Day: 16 August 2022

The Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem forced a Palestinian resident of an East Jerusalem neighborhood to demolish his own house under the pretext it was built without a permit otherwise the demolition will be carried out by the municipality at a very high financial cost.

Speaking on Voice of Palestine radio, Farouq Mustafa, a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiyya, recounted how his family was surprised to receive yesterday a notification from the municipality to self-tear down its 120-square-meter house despite a court order freezing the demolition order, noting that the municipality partly demolished it in May.

He added that he had paid an exorbitant fine in May to avoid having his house demolished and in an attempt to have the demolition order repealed, but the occupation authorities adamantly forced them to self-demolish it despite the court order freezing the demolition.

Using the pretext of illegal construction, the Israeli municipality 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 the goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

In the aftermath of the latest escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip, the European Union (EU) Representative to West Bank and Gaza, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, and other EU Member States’ representatives visited today Beach Preparatory School in Beach Palestine refugee camp, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), according to a press release.

This visit coincided with the signing of the annual EU contribution to the UNRWA Program Budget for 2022, confirming EU and Member States’ steadfast commitment to the rights and human development of Palestine refugees living in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, until a just and lasting solution to their plight, said the UNRWA press release.

“I am extremely grateful as the European Union continues to be one of the most reliable donors and a strategic partner for the Agency in 2022. This timely contribution comes as the Agency faces important and deepening financial challenges to implement the mandate received from the UN General Assembly. EU funds will help us sustain essential services, including education, health care and social services to Palestine refugees, who are confronted with immense hardship across the whole region,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

The delegation visiting Gaza was received by the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza, Thomas White, and the UNRWA teams.

During the recent escalation, 48 Palestinians were killed, including 17 children and some 450 Palestinians were internally displaced, some of whom took shelter in UNRWA schools. During the emergency, UNRWA staff members in Gaza worked around the clock to ensure continued service delivery to more than 1.4 million Palestine refugees that reside in the besieged Strip.

“The people in Gaza continue to suffer immensely from the hardship caused by 15 years of closure and economic restrictions. This is exacerbated by repeated rounds of violent attacks where so many innocent Palestinians have lost their lives and suffered from injuries. I come here today, together with representatives of EU Member States, to show our solidarity with the victims of the last round of military conflict and to extend concrete support to Palestine refugees, and notably youth and children, through our longstanding partnership with UNRWA,” said the European Union Representative Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff.

“While we encourage all parties to fully uphold the ceasefire, we call for a transparent and independent investigation into the unlawful killing of civilians, including many children and women. Without a fundamental change to the political, security and economic situation in Gaza, including the end of the closure and achieving reconciliation among Palestinian factions, Gazan civilians will be the ones paying the price for the lack of political will on the side of Israel as the occupying power and the Palestinian duty bearers to achieve a peaceful solution that allows the creation of a sovereign, viable and democratic Palestinian State of which Gaza is an integral part,” he added.

Under this newly signed agreement, the EU will provide a contribution of €97 million to support the human development work of UNRWA in 2022, including over half a million girls and boys attending UNRWA schools and around two million refugees seeking health care at UNRWA clinics. This contribution also includes a €15 million top-up from the Food and Resilience Facility to mitigate the impact of the Ukraine crisis on food prices and food security for the most vulnerable refugee populations.

For more than 50 years, the EU has established itself as a key strategic partner for the Agency, supporting UNRWA in its efforts to help Palestine refugees achieve their full potential despite their difficult circumstances. The partnership between the EU and UNRWA has evolved over time, with the EU and its Member States becoming the largest multilateral provider of international assistance to Palestine refugees. Last year, the EU signed a Joint Declaration in support of UNRWA for the period 2021-2024.

As an Agency, UNRWA is continually looking to adapt and evolve to match the protracted and unresolved crisis, stretching resources to service the greatest need each year. Since 2015, UNRWA has reduced operational costs by $600 million, whilst maintaining delivery of high quality health and education services for Palestine refugees.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Four Palestinian homeowners today received Israeli military stop-construction orders against their houses that are being built in the town of al-Karmel, east of Yatta in the south of the West Bank.

Fouad al-Imour, a local activist, told WAFA that each was building a 100-square-meter house for their families when they received the stop construction order that is usually followed by a demolition order.

Israel prevents Palestinian construction in the South Hebron Hills, which is part of Area C of the occupied West Bank that is under full Israeli military control.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas praised today Germany’s stances in support of achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution and international legitimacy resolutions.

President Abbas made the remarks during a joint press conference with Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz in the German capital, Berlin.

He also valued Germany’s continued support to the Palestinian people to build their capacities and national institutions as well as its support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), stressing the importance of continuing the work of the joint ministerial committee between the two countries.

The President also stressed the pivotal role played by Germany in the Middle East region and the world, as well as within the European Union and its role in the meetings of the “Munich Format”, which includes Germany, France, Egypt, and Jordan, to push forward the peace efforts in the region.

President Abbas, in this regard, expressed readiness to work with all relevant partners to achieve this goal.

He also addressed the Palestinian efforts to protect the two-state solution from collapse, in preparation for a political horizon to end the Israeli occupation of the lands of the State of Palestine occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as a capital, in addition to efforts exerted to achieve a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees.

President Abbas affirmed that achieving these goals requires stopping unilateral actions that violate international law and signed agreements, stopping Israeli settlements, settler violence, killings, demolition of homes and facilities in the occupied Palestinian lands, and putting an end to attacks on the Palestinian people in East Jerusalem as well as Christian and Islamic holy sites.

He also stressed adherence to peaceful popular resistance and rejection of violence and terrorism anywhere in the world.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency