Day: 6 June 2022

Israeli police today evening stormed the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, according to local sources.

Sources said that Israeli police stormed the Silwan neighborhood amid the firing of tear gas canisters.

A four-year-old child reportedly suffocated from inhaling the tear gas fired by Israeli police toward residents and their homes, according to Wadi Hilweh Information Center.

Police also stormed the Ras Khamis area near Shu’fat refugee camp north of the old city.

More than six neighborhoods in Silwan are threatened with complete demolition and ethnic cleansing for the benefit of settler organizations.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The Israeli occupation authorities today seized a large tract of cultivated land belonging to Tarqumia town, northwest of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Member of the local committee in defense of land, Suleiman Jaafreh, told WAFA that Israeli forces handed several residents of the southern West Bank town notices ordering them to evacuate their olive and grape-cultivated land, which covers an estimated area of 600 dunums, purportedly for being classified as “state land”.

He added that the landowners have title deeds proving their ownership of the land while pointing that the move is intended to pave the way for the expansion of the nearby colonial settlements of Telem and Adora.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the British Council cemented their longstanding partnerships through a cooperation agreement signed in Amman today.

The agreement, signed between the Chief Executive of the British Council, Scott McDonald, and UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, is an acknowledgement of a decade-long partnership that helps bolster the Agency’s education program to the benefit of over half a million Palestine refugee students in the region.

“In the last two years, 80 UNRWA schools were winners of the British Council’s International School Award, and many more schools before that,” said Philippe Lazzarini.

“The Agency is innately proud of its students and teaching staff across the region, whose talent, skills and critical thinking can greatly benefit from this cooperation. As educators worldwide discuss the benefits and challenges of online learning, UNRWA is pioneering with a digital learning program that will protect students from disruptions in case of crises. Lessons learnt from conflicts and COVID-19 closures helped shape the Agency’s approach.”

The UNRWA-British Council agreement includes the Global Schools Program, which helps build the capacity of teachers and connects local issues to global ones, including climate change, gender equality, and the use of information technology in education.

The agreement provides an opportunity to expand the Agency’s English-language program in schools in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Scott McDonald, Chief Executive British Council, said: “This long-standing partnership has been imperative in creating educational and professional development opportunities for young people. In a fast-changing world, it is essential to equip and provide access to develop, grow and adapt. I am certain that this synergy between our organizations will foster new development and excellence in the English language, help tackle challenges and build the capacity of teachers and young people, reiterating our commitment to build connections, understanding and trust between people of the UK and countries in the Levant.”

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

After 96 days of hunger strike in protest against his incarceration in Israel without charge or trial, Palestinian administrative detainee Khalil Awawdeh, 40, is reported to be in a very critical health condition, today said the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS).

PPS attorney Jawad Boulos reported following a visit to al-Ramleh Israeli jail, where Awawdeh is being incarcerated, that he was vomiting for the whole time during the visit, suffered from poor vision, and complained of immense pain throughout his body, specifically in his limbs and muscles.

Israel detained Awawdeh, from the southern West Bank town of Idna, on December 27, 2021, and slammed him with a six-month administrative detention order. He is married and a father to four daughters.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Israeli occupation forces tonight stormed the village of Nabi Saleh to the northwest of Ramallah, spurring clashes with residents, according to local sources.

Clashes broke out between Israeli army soldiers and the villagers, during which forces tear gas canisters toward the residents, however, no injuries were reported.

Israeli forces further set up a military checkpoint at the entrance to the village, preventing residents from entering or leaving, and causing heavy traffic congestion.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox patriarchate denounced in a statement today transgressions by Israeli extremists on its property.

On the morning of Monday, 6 June at around 10:30 am local time, Israeli radicals trespassed into the Greek Garden on Mt Zion in Jerusalem, property of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In coordination with local police, the Patriarchate made a decision to lock the gates to their private property ahead of Shavuot, when radicals have historically trespassed, camped on the grounds, and trashed the site, it said.

The trespassers claimed that the property belonged to King David, breaking locks and entering the property. When peacefully confronted by the church groundskeeper, they acted aggressively, threatening the groundskeeper by saying that they would “burn your eyes” and that they would find and kill him.

Inside the garden, radicals also broke through the fencing protecting the chapel on the site, which will be used this week to celebrate Pentecost. Men cut through the barriers and climbed into the chapel, a sanctified and holy space to Christians which is sadly regularly defiled by these groups.

Immediately after the incidents, the Patriarchate’s personnel along with the groundskeeper filed a report with the police, and a police report was issued, and we welcome a thorough investigation and extra security to protect this property and the life of the groundskeeper. These measures are commonly provided to religious minorities under threat throughout western democracies, and Christians in Jerusalem should be no exception, said the statement.

The deadly threats to church staff and destruction of private property and holy sites are unacceptable. Moreso, the timing of this act is not lost on the churches -it is a provocation in the week leading to holy services taking place at the site as we remember the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the growth of the church through Pentecost.

The Greek Orthodox Chapel on the site is used for Pentecost and is often vandalized. Israeli radicals frequently pour paint into the chapel, urinate into the catacombs, and destroy landscaping.

Groups frequently litter and vandalize the basketball court branded with the Patriarchate logo -a physical and rhetorical act of intimidation against the churches. Because of this, the church has hired a private security guard who is regularly threatened. Liturgies are loudly and violently protested by religious radical Israeli groups every year. Police are required for the safety of priests and pilgrims. This animosity and confrontation is fueled by radical claims to the property, it said.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Israeli force today forces a Palestinian resident to demolish part of his house in Khirbet al-Rakeez in the Masafer Yatta area to the south of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Coordinator of the Protection and Steadfastness Committees in Masafer Yatta, Fouad al-Amour, told WAFA that Israeli forces forced local resident, Murad Hamamdeh to demolish part of his house, an area of around 40-square-meters.

To be noted, the Israeli High Court on May 4 gave the army the green light to demolish 12 communities in Masafer Yatta and to displace over 1000 of their residents as part of a plan to seize their lands and homes under the pretext of turning the area into a firing zone for military training.

“Under international law, individual or mass forcible transfers and deportation of protected persons from occupied territories are prohibited, regardless of their motive,” said the EU in a tweet condemning the Israeli decision.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)