Day: 24 November 2022

RAMALLAH– Israeli occupation forces confiscated two caravans today and razed a land in the village of Atara, to the north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Yunis Arar, a spokesman for the Wall and Colonization Resistance Commission, told WAFA that the Israeli occupation army confiscated two caravans belonging to Palestinian owners and bulldozed a land in the village.

Abd Abu Awwad, a local Palestinian resident, told WAFA that an Israeli army force raided the village, confiscated two caravans and demolished a retaining wall and a shack owned by local residents.

The area where the demolition took place is classified as Area C, the more than two-thirds of the occupied West Bank under full Israeli military and civil control, and where Palestinians are almost completely denied building permits by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Source: Palestine news and Information Agency

BETHLEHEM– An undercover Israeli force abducted a Palestinian youth this evening in the neighborhood of Al-Doha in the city of Bethlehem, south of the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian security sources.

The sources told WAFA that an undercover Israeli force raided a barbershop in the neighborhood and abducted Omar Kawar, 20, before taking him to an unknown destination.

Source: Palestine news and Information Agency

BEIRUT– UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said today that the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is extremely alarming, and is marred by poverty, despair and lack of prospect.

He said following a visit to the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, “People are dying a slow death as many are unable to afford medicines or co-share the cost of treatment especially for chronic diseases and cancer. Levels of poverty and unemployment are unprecedented due to one of the worst economic crises in recent history.”

He added that “people in Lebanon, among them Palestine refugees, are suffering and paying the price for something not of their making. I met with Palestine refugees during my visit who are completely ravished by poverty, despair and lack of prospect.”

Lazzarini continued, “In the Beddawi Palestine refugee camp, north of Lebanon, I met Salim, who asked that I relay his call for help so that his family can survive this dark episode of the country’s economic freefall.”

Heeding our call for urgent assistance, said the UN official, Germany has generously contributed $6 million for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. He said this support will enable the UNRWA “to do a round of cash assistance distribution to the most vulnerable as they prepare for winter. This cash assistance also includes Palestine refugees from Syria who depend on monthly assistance from UNRWA to survive.”

“Until a more sustainable solution is found, UNRWA will continue to do everything possible to help Palestine refugees have a life of dignity. I call for further support to UNRWA so that we continue to assist families in need.”

Source: Palestine news and Information Agency

TULKARM– Israeli occupation forces detained three Palestinian workers today near the Israeli segregation barrier, to the north of Tulkarm city in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Witnesses told WAFA that Israeli occupation soldiers arrested three workers while they were in an area adjacent to the segregation barrier. The three are from the town of Dayr al-Ghusun.

Palestinian workers in the occupied West Bank usually opt for alternative routes to avoid overcrowding at major Israeli checkpoints in their daily journey to their workplaces inside Israel, and are often attacked by Israeli soldiers whenever they try to cross the Israeli segregation barrier.

Source: Palestine news and Information Agency

RAMALLAH– Extremist Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones tonight in the area of Wadi ad-Delb, to the west of Ramallah in the central West Bank, causing damage to some of them, according to local sources.

Sameh Erman, a Palestinian driver, told WAFA he was surprised by a group of Israeli settlers blocking the road ahead of him and attacking his vehicle with stones, causing damage to his vehicle. Erman himself was miraculously not injured in the attack.

He said the attack shattered the front windshield of his vehicle and scattered glass fragments in the interior of the car, pointing out that the settlers were hiding behind cement cubes placed by the Israeli occupation forces on the road.

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

There are over 600,000 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: Palestine news and Information Agency

JERUSALEM– The European Union called today on the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately end the solitary confinement of Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Manasra, and to allow him access to badly needed psychological counselling and support.

“Today, the EU and some Member States attended Ahmad Manasra’s hearing. The Court extended his one year-long solitary confinement for another 4 months. The UN stipulates solitary confinement beyond 15 days constitutes torture,” the EU office in Palestine said in a tweet.

The EU added, “Appeal to Israeli authorities to end his solitary confinement immediately & ensure he receives the necessary psychological counselling & support. Given serious internaitonal concerns about fair trial standards & due process in this case, we call on Israeli authorities to urgently release him”.

Manasra was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces in 2015 when he was only 13 years after shooting him and his cousin Hassan, who was killed instantly.

Ahmad Manasra’s mental health has worsened during his incarceration. In October 2021 an independent Israeli clinical psychologist working with Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) diagnosed him with severe psychiatric conditions, and stated these had developed since his incarceration.

Ahmad Manasra’s parents said in February 2022 that their son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and that he is suffering from psychotic delusions, and is severely depressed with suicidal thoughts.

Source: Palestine news and Information Agency