Day: 23 January 2023

Warm and sunny weather conditions are expected to continue today in Palestine with no change in temperature, which remains 4°C above the seasonal average, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department (PMD).

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

Temperature in the capital, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem is expected to reach a high of 17°C and a low of 9°C, and in Ramallah and Hebron a high of 16°C and a low of 8°C are expected. In Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan Valley temperature is expected to reach a high of 25°C and a low of 14°C, while it is expected to reach a high of 20°C and a low of 13°C in Gaza and the coastal areas.

Similar weather conditions are expected through on Tuesday, said the PMD.

A slight drop in temperature is expected on Wednesday.

No change is expected for Wednesday.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Israeli forces briefly detained Mashour Wahwah, a photographer for the Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA) at the entrance of the refugee camp of al-Fawwar, south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

Wahwah was taking photos of Israeli forces as they were detaining two Palestinian youths in the area.

He said that the Israeli soldiers briefly detained him at gun point and sezied his camera’s memory card, preventing him from taking any photographs.

K.T.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Israeli forces predawn Monday detained 16 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.

They said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian and ransacked his family house in Jalazone refugee camp, north of the city of Ramallah.

The gun-toting soldiers rounded up three others close to the central West Bank city of Rawabi, north of Ramallah.

In the southern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in Dheisheh refugee camp, south of the city of Bethlehem, resulting in the detention of another.

A convoy of army vehicles stormed Aida refugee camp, north of the city, where the soldiers detained two others, including a 13-year-old minor.

Elsewhere in the southern West Bank, the heavily-armed soldiers showed up at a house in Kharsa village, south of Hebron city, broke inside and rounded up another.

They detained two others in separate two raids in Dura city and Idhna town, southwest and west of Hebron, and ransacked their houses, turning them upside down.

In the Jordan Valley, the soldiers forcibly entered the family house of a former prisoner in Jericho city and re-arrested him. The prisoner spent 21 months in Israeli imprisonment before being released in 2017.

In the northern West Bank, a sizable army force barged its way into Nablus city, where the soldiers detained another.

The soldiers manning a checkpoint close to Ya‘bad town, west of Jenin, stopped and re-arrested a former prisoner from the nearby town of Burqin.

They also showed up at a house in the Jenin city neighborhood of Marah Sa‘ed, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search, assaulted the occupants and eventually detained another.

The father suffered cuts and bruises in the head as a result of the attack.

While in the city, the soldiers destroyed a Palestinian vehicle and set a motorcycle on fire.

Elsewhere in the northern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in Nur Shamas refugee camp, east of Tulkarm, leading to the detention of two others.

Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.

These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers.

Under Israeli military law army commanders have full executive, legislative and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised.

According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 4,700 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 150 children and 34 female prisoners.

This number includes approximately 835 Palestinians placed under “administrative detention”, that allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Mass arrest of Palestinians is nothing new. According to a 2017 report by Addameer, over the past 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel, this figure is now believed to be closer to 1 million. This means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered the imprisonment of a loved one.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The Israeli army today admitted its forces have recently killed a Palestinian who posed no imminent danger.

The army confirmed that 45-year-old father of four Ahmad Hassan Kahleh “was unnecessarily shot dead in front of his son” in front of his 20-year-old son, Qusai, outside Silwad town, northeast of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on the morning of Sunday, January 15.

Kahla was one of dozens of Palestinian commuters stuck in traffic during morning rush hour, caused by an army checkpoint erected at the town entrance. He was shot point blank with a single bullet in the neck during a physical scuffle with Israeli soldiers after the latter forced him and his son to exit their car.

Qusai said that he and his father were on their way to work when the soldiers topped their vehicle, shortly after a sound bomb was fired at the car.

According to him, it was then when the soldiers pepper-sprayed the Palestinian father of four and forced him to get out of the car before he fainted.

Israeli media claimed in their initial reports at the time of the shooting that Kahleh was shot while allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing attack.

However, following a viral video footage from the scene, Israeli media edited their article to quote Israeli army sources as saying soldiers opened fire after trying to arrest Kahleh, and that “he additionally tried to snatch one of their guns”.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The Israeli occupation authorities today demolished an agricultural room in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Isawiyya, according to a local activist.

Mohammad Abu al-Hummus said that Israeli police, accompanying a bulldozer, barged into cultivated land isolated by a section of Israel’s apartheid wall in the eastern part of the neighborhood, where the heavy machinery knocked down an agricultural structure.

He added that police seized olive and citrus saplings in addition to a water tank.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Israeli police continued to harass Palestinian freedom fighters Karim Younis and Maher Younis, who were released from prison this month after serving 40 years behind bars for resisting the occupation.

Karim Younis’ family said that a large police force today broke into their home in the Arab town of Arara, in central Israel, searched the house and seized Palestinian flags, pictures and posters that were hung in the town to celebrate the release of Karim earlier this month.

The police detained Karim’s sister-in-law and another relative and issued a summons for Karim and his brother to appear before the Israeli police for interrogation.

Last week, police also raided the home of Maher Younis, who was also released last week from Israeli captivity after spending 40 years behind bars, and detained him and his brother and interrogated them for alleged incitement against Israel. They were later released.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III today condemned the crime of burning a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

Theophilus said in an official statement issued by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem that “these crimes reinforce hatred and distance us from societal peace and human morality.”

The laws that grant the right to attack the beliefs of others under the pretext of freedom of expression must be dealt with by the legislative authorities, and those who attack the belief of another must be held accountable by the judicial authorities whose duty is to protect people’s feelings and work to strengthen societal peace and fraternal spirit between people of the one society and not to provide legal cover for those who allow themselves to infringe on the beliefs of others, he said.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem stressed that any person has the right to believe whatever he wants, but no one has the right to insult the beliefs of another, harass him, prevent him from freely practicing his religious rites, or limit his freedom of access to holy places. These rights must be at the heart of the constitution of any country before the “freedom of expression” clause, he said.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency