Day: 23 August 2022

Hot conditions are expected today as well in Palestine with no change in temperature, remaining slightly above the seasonal average, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department (PMD).

Winds are westerly to northwesterly, light to moderate, and sea waves are low.

Temperature in the capital, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem is expected to reach a high of 31°C and a low of 20°C and in Ramallah and Hebron a high of 30°C and a low of 19°C. In Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan Valley temperature is expected to reach a high of 40°C and a low of 26°C, while it is expected to reach a high of 31°C and a low of 24°C in Gaza and the coastal areas.

No change in temperature or weather conditions is expected tomorrow, Tuesday, said the PMD.

Temperature slightly rises on Wednesday approaching 2°C above the seasonal average.

A hot weave is expected to hit the region on Thursday and Friday, thus weather is expected to hot to very hot, while temperture is expected to rise, becoming 3-4°C above the seasonal average.

The PMD warned people against direct exposure to the sun for long period, particularly during peak hours from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, and setting fire to dry grassy areas.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The three Palestinian newspapers published today, al-Quds, al-Hayat al-Jadida, and al-Ayyam, highlighted the Israeli demolition of eight Palestinian-owned houses in the village of al-Dyouk, near Jericho, the establishment of an army camp in Hebron, and the start of protests by the Palestinian freedom fighters held in Israeli jails.

The dailies also highlighted the news about the President’s arrival in Ankara on an official visit to Turkey and the government’s rejection of Israel’s measures against education in occupied East Jerusalem.

Here are the main headlines of the three dailies:

Al-Quds

In their first escalation steps, the prisoners refuse to undergo the security check

The President arrives in Turkey and briefs the Arab ambassadors on the latest developments

The occupation authorities demolish eight houses under construction in the village of al-Dyouk, target shepherds and fishermen in the Gaza Strip

The government rejects Israel’s measures against education in Jerusalem and approves the establishment of a fund for the city’s schools

Al-Hayat al-Jadida

The occupation demolishes houses under construction in the village of al-Diouk and begins constructing an army camp east of Hebron

The President arrives in Ankara on an official visit and receives the Arab ambassadors accredited to Turkey

Burj al-Barajneh and Rashidiya camps stand in support of the President in facing a campaign of malicious incitement

The Cabinet rejects Israeli measures against education in Jerusalem and decides to establish a fund for the city’s schools

Prisoners start struggle steps against prison administration measures against them

The extremist Ben-Gvir threatens the family of the wounded prisoner Nour Eddin Jerboa

The European Union expresses its deep concern about the occupation’s targeting of Palestinian civil society organizations

Al-Ayyam

Large-scale demolition of homes in Jericho governorate and a new camp for the occupation army in Hebron

Extremist Ben-Gvir threatens to liquidate the family of the wounded prisoner Jerboa

The President begins an official visit to Turkey and receives accredited Arab ambassadors

Prisoners start their protest by refraining from security checks and returning meals

European concern about Israel targeting the work of Palestinian civil society organizations

The Monetary Authority: No commissions on the salaries of workers in Israel

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The Israeli occupation forces last night demolished a residential room in the village of Farasin, near the northern West Bank town of Yabad, displacing a family of seven people, according to the owner of the residence Saleh Amarneh.

He told WAFA that soldiers broke into the village at night and forced his family to leave their home without any prior notice then proceeded to demolish it without allowing the family to take its belongings out.

He said Israel has been waging a campaign for years to force the residents of Farasin to leave their village and land in order to take it over for its settlement projects.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The Israeli occupation forces today notified Palestinian residents of the villages of Jinba and al-Markaz, and Bedouin communities in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills, that movement in and out of these villages will not be allowed anymore, virtually isolating them from the outside world, according to a local activist.

The activist in the anti-settlement committees in the south of Hebron, Ratib Jabour, told WAFA that the occupation forces handed people in these communities notices informing them not to move or enter and leave these areas, threatening to impose penalties on those who do not comply with the decision.

The military measure will prevent interaction between families living in the villages of Masafer Yatta and other areas as the notices threatened to seize any vehicle moving in the area, interrogate people moving in the area and fine them if they do not comply with the military order.

The Israeli army has intensified its checkpoints and closure of roads in Masafer Yatta since the Israeli High Court gave it the greenlight in May to demolish the communities and expel more than 1000 of their residents under the pretext of turning the area into a military training zone.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Israeli occupation forces today and last night detained at least 13 Palestinians and wounded another in multiple raids across the occupied territories, according to various sources.

They said that Israeli forces rounded up two Palestinians after breaking into and searching the houses of their families in Ni’lin town, west of Ramallah.

In the northern West Bank, a convoy of army vehicles stormed Tubas city, where the soldiers arrested two former prisoners.

During the raid, an army vehicle crashed into a Palestinian-registered vehicle, injuring a construction worker who left his home at dawn on their way to Israel, sustaining bruises in his lower extremities and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment.

In Tulkarm district, the soldiers showed up at a house in Qaffin town, northeast of the city, and detained one person after searching his family home.

In the Jordan Valley, soldiers forcibly entered two houses in Fasayil village, north of Jericho, and detained two teenagers after ransacking their family homes.

In the southern West Bank, soldiers surrounded three houses in al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, and detained three people, including two brothers, and searched the houses, turning them upside down.

Elsewhere in the southern West Bank, the sources confirmed that three people were detained from Hebron city.

On Monday evening, police brutally assaulted a Palestinian in the vicinity of Bab al-Asbat in Jerusalem’s Old City and detained him.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Israeli military soldiers today assaulted a number of Palestinian children as they were heading back home from a summer camp in central Hebron, according to eyewitnesses.

Eyewitnesses told WAFA that Israeli forces stationed at the Shuhada Street checkpoint briefly held the children who were heading home from a summer camp in Tel Remideh area, in central Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank.

Forces reportedly ripped their shirts and took away their hats before letting them go.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The Israeli military authorities ordered Palestinian residents of Nahalin town, west of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, to stop construction on a shop and land reclamation, according to the mayor of Nahalin Ibrahim Ghayata.

He told WAFA that the owner of the shop was ordered to stop the construction and three landowners were ordered to stop reclaiming their lands west of the town.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The Israeli occupation authorities today released the body of Mai Afana who was killed by Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem in June of last year.

After her family received her body, large crowds participated in the funeral and burial of Afana in her hometown, Abu Dis, east of occupied Jerusalem.

In another form of collective punishment and also to use them as a bargaining chip in any deal with the Palestinians, the Israeli occupation authorities have a long-standing policy of refusing to release the bodies of Palestinians who have been killed by its forces for burial by their families. Some of the bodies have been held for years.

International human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israel’s policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians who are killed by Israeli gunfire.

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, considered this policy a violation of human dignity, adding that the policy is not only morally wrong but also undervalues Palestinians and their families.

Withholding bodies of dead Palestinians and not returning them to their families for proper burial is a cruel practice and a violation of international humanitarian law and United Nations Convention against Torture, said the Haifa-based Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Amid Israel’s escalating attacks targeting their work, a group of more than 150 Palestinian, regional, and international organizations expressed their full solidarity with the designated seven leading Palestinian civil society organizations, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq Law in the Service of Man (Al-Haq), Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), Health Work Committees (HWC), the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC).

On the morning of 18 August 2022, the Israeli occupying forces (IOF) raided and sealed the doorways into the offices of the seven Palestinian organizations. The IOF also confiscated documents and equipment and destroyed items in the offices. On the doors of the organizations, military orders were left behind ordering the closure of the offices under Article 319 of the Emergency Regulations of 1945. This development follows the 19 October 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz designation of six leading Palestinian civil society organizations as terrorist organizations under Israel’s Anti-Terrorism Law (2016), which was then extended to the West Bank on 3 November 2021 by a military order that outlawed the same organizations.

The signatories of the joint statement urged the international community to unequivocally condemn Israel’s targeting of Palestinian civil society and tactics to further repress of freedom of expression. “States must take all necessary action to support and protect Palestinian human rights defenders and ensure the continuation of their invaluable work.”

These raids and closures represent the latest escalation in Israel’s widespread campaign aiming to silence and discredit any Palestinian individual or organization that dares to seek accountability for Israel’s grave human rights violations, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The “persecution of organizations and persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid” is a method used by Israel, amounting to acts of apartheid prosecutable under the Rome Statute, to maintain its domination and oppression over the Palestinian people, said the joint statement.

“The organizations remain at an additional risk of closure of bank accounts, travel bans and movement restrictions, and the arrest and detention of staff members for their work. Israel’s attacks against these organizations pose an existential threat to independent Palestinian human rights organizations and civil society who work to monitor and document violations of human rights and provide basic services to the Palestinian people,” added the statement.

The signatories called upon the international community to demand that Israel immediately revoke its designations of Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations as “terrorist organizations,” reverse the military orders designating the organizations and closing their offices and repeal its Anti-Terrorism Law (2016) as it does not meet basic human rights standards.

Moreover, they called on the international community to take effective measures to end all other actions that deny Palestinians their inalienable human rights.

Lastly, the statement called on the members of the international community to continue their support and increase funding to the organizations and engage with financial institutions to ensure the transfer of funds to the organizations.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency