Latest News Headlines of Palestine
The Israeli occupation forces today demolished several stalls operated by vendors at the entrance to al-Jalama village, north of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, according to the head of al-Jalama village council Amjad Abu Farha.
He told WAFA that soldiers raided the vendors located near an army checkpoint and destroyed all the stalls selling vegetables and fruits and prevented the owners from retaining the products.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
Reacting to Israel’s massacre in Nablus yesterday, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said that he was deeply disturbed by the violence and that he is working to deescalate the situation.
“I am deeply disturbed by the continuing cycle of violence and appalled by the loss of civilian lives,” said Wennesland in a statement. “I am continuing my engagement with all concerned parties to deescalate the situation. I urge all sides to refrain from steps that could further enflame an already volatile situation.”
The Israeli army killed 11 Palestinians, including three elderly men, one of them suffocated from inhaling teargas, and a child, and more than 100 were injured during an assault on the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
With the participation of President Mahmoud Abbas, an official funeral was held today at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah for the former prime minister, former speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, a former member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Fatah Central Committee, Ahmad Qurei (Abu Alaa) who died yesterday at age 85.
President Abbas bid farewell to the late leader and laid a wreath on his coffin.
The official funeral ceremony was attended by the President of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein al-Sheikh, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, members of the PLO Executive Committee, the Fatah Central Committee, and the Fatah Revolutionary Council, along with members of the leadership, ministers and governors, leaders of the security services, and family and relatives of the deceased.
The coffin was carried on the shoulders when it arrived at the presidential headquarters and passed in front of the honor guards while playing the Palestinian national anthem.
The body was then taken to Abu Alaa’s hometown of Abu Dis, southeast of Jerusalem, to be buried there.
Qurei served as the first Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Palestinian parliament in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, elected in 1996. In 2003, he served as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority until the 2006 elections. He joined the Fatah movement in 1968 and became a member of its Central Committee and also a member of the PLO Executive Committee.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate end to the Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories as a major roadblock on the way to peace.
“Across the occupied West Bank and Gaza, hopelessness is spreading, feeding anger and despair. Each new settlement is another roadblock on the path to peace,” Guterres said yesterday at the opening of the 2023 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
Referring to the “concerning news” early Wednesday that Israeli occupation forces killed 11 Palestinians and injured more than 100 others in a brutal raid on Nablus, Guterres said: “Deadly cycles of violence keep accelerating. Tensions are sky-high. And the peace process remains stalled.”
“The status of Jerusalem cannot be altered by unilateral actions,” he said.
“Jerusalem’s demographic and historical character must be preserved — and the status quo at the Holy Sites must be upheld, in line with the special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” he added.
The UN chief said the “ultimate goal is to end the occupation, realize a two-state solution.”
“What is needed is the political will and courage to make the difficult choices for peace,” the UN chief said.
“A peace that ends the occupation and ensures two states – Israel and an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state — living side by side within secure and recognized borders, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states,” he said. “A peace in which Palestinians and Israelis alike enjoy equal measures of democracy, opportunity, and dignity in their lives.”
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
As part of Siniora Food Industries Company’s strategic plan and its efforts to expand in regional and international markets, Tarek Omar Aggad, chairman of the Board of Directors of Siniora Food Industries Company – Saudi Arabia, a subsidiary of Siniora Food Industries Company – Jordan, signed an agreement with the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (MODON) for the construction of a factory to produce all types of cold cuts and frozen meat.
MODON will allocate a piece of land with an area of 25,000 square meters for long-term use in the second industrial area in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Siniora to build its factory. The estimated cost of this investment is about $37 million.
This announcement was made during Siniora’s participation in the Gulfood exhibition, the largest annual food and beverage sourcing event in the world, held in Dubai between February 20 and February 24.
Majid bin Rafid al-Arqoubi, CEO of the MODON, welcomed the partnership, which will enable Siniora to establish its first factory in Saudi Arabia. He added that this aligns with MODON’s efforts to contribute to enhancing food security and engaging with the Kingdom’s aspiration in this regard. He also emphasized the importance of such partnerships in developing the economy, transferring knowledge, and creating new job opportunities in the Saudi market.
Aggad stated that this step comes in line with the company’s expansion strategy in regional markets, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the largest in the region, with the aim of boosting the company’s sales and increasing its market share. This, in turn, will enhance Siniora’s position, revenues, and profits in the future by increasing the company’s production capacity through the construction of a new state-of-the-art factory in Saudi Arabia.
Aggad added that Siniora currently occupies the largest market share in the Jordanian and Palestinian markets and aims to attain a dominant position in regional markets, particularly in the Gulf, as one of the leading industrial companies in the food industries sector in the region.
Also speaking about the agreement, Siniora CEO Majdi al-Sharif said that with more than a century of experience in the food industry, Siniora aims to share its expertise with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by creating more than 200 job opportunities. He added that the first phase of the project is anticipated to conclude in the second half of 2024, noting that the factory, once completed, is expected to have an annual production capacity of approximately 20,000 tons and an anticipated export rate of around 20% of the production capacity.
Siniora is a public shareholding company listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE: SNRA). It is a leader in the meat manufacturing industry in the region through four factories equipped with state-of-the-art technologies in Palestine, Jordan, UAE and Turkey. Siniora produces over 100 types of cold cuts, canned luncheons, and frozen meat. The company also produces the plant-based product Badeel, which is the vegan meat alternative, a soy-free and gluten-free product that comes in four categories – burgers, minced, sausages, and nuggets.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned the heinous Israeli massacre in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, which resulted in 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries.
“This heinous crime constitutes an extension of the record of Israeli crimes and organised state terrorism practiced against the Palestinian people,” the OIC said in a statement.
The organization also blamed the Israeli occupation for all the consequences of this massacre which should be investigated and its perpetrators should be prosecuted, the body added.
It urged the UN Security Council to take action and carry out its resolutions related to protecting the Palestinians against the continuous Israeli aggression.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
Armed Israeli settlers opened gunfire today at Palestinian homes during confrontations in the village of Nabi Saleh, to the west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.
The attack came as Israeli occupation forces clamped down on anti-occupation protesters in the village and shut down the main entrance to it, blocking movement of vehicles in and out of the village.
No injuries were reported.
The incident also coincides with a brutal Israeli aggression by the occupation army and settlers on the Palestinian people across the occupied territories, which resulted since the beginning of the year in the deaths of at least 61 Palestinians and the injury of many more.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
The Arab League launched this evening an urgent extraordinary session in Cairo at the level of permanent delegates to discuss Arab and international action to confront the brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, including the recent Israeli massacre in Nablus in which 11 Palestinians were killed and more than 110 others wounded.
Chaired by Libya, the session is being attended by Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki, and Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and the occupied Arab territories, Saeed Abu Ali, and delegates and representatives of the member states of the Arab League.
The session is being held at the request of President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss providing international protection for the Palestinian people against in view of the escalating Israeli aggression, which culminated in the heinous massacre yesterday in Nablus.
The delegation of the State of Palestine at the meeting is headed by its Permanent Representative to the Arab League, Diab Al-Lou.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
Premier Mohammad Shtayyeh today cautioned that the situation in the occupied territories is extremely serious and was heading towards further escalation.
Speaking during a meeting with member of European Parliament (MEP) Nicola Beer at his office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Prime Minister Shtayyeh stated that the situation in the occupied territories is particularly serious and was heading towards further escalation following the right-wing Jewish supremacist Israeli government that advocates nothing but more colonial settlement construction, extrajudicial killings, raids and de-Palestinization of the holy sites.
The meeting was attended by European Union Representative to Palestine Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Shtayyeh briefed MEP Beer on the deadly Israeli army incursion that resulted in the killing of eleven Palestinians, including an elderly and a child, and injuring over 100 others by live bullets, six reported in critical to very critical condition, into the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday.
He renewed his call that the European Union (EU) take serious actions in order to safeguard the two-state solution through putting pressure on Israel, the occupying power, to halt all unilateral actions and violations against the Palestinian people as well as to abide by all signed agreements.
He also called on EU member countries to recognize the State of Palestine as a means to confront all Israeli practices sabotaging the two-state solution and actively turn the State of Palestine into reality.
He concluded by reiterating that Israel continue to exhibit a total disregard to international laws and conventions and act as a state above the law, particularly that it has approved the construction of more settler units in colonial settlements just two days after UNSC adopted a presidential statement expressing its deep concern and dismay over its recent announcement of further construction and expansion of colonial settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories, as well as the “legalization” of settlement outposts.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed today his concern at the Israeli occupation forces’ use of explosive weapons during the massacre yesterday in Nablus.
“Conducting an operation involving shoulder-launched explosive projectiles and other weapons typically associated with hostilities in a highly populated area in broad daylight at a time of heightened public activity suggests concerning disregard for the lives and security of bystanders,” Turk said.
He added, “I am deeply concerned that scores of Palestinians, including a boy and three older men, were killed and hundreds injured in the Israeli operation [attack] in Nablus”.
“I reiterate my recent call to halt the illogic of escalation that has been building up to the detriment of the human rights of both Palestinians and Israelis.”
Turk urged an investigation of all killings and serious injuries in accordance with international norms and standards.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
The Arab League Council today condemned Israeli crimes against and demanded the provision of international protection to the Palestinian people.
The Council convened an extraordinary meeting at the Permanent Representative level in Cairo to discuss the ongoing deadly Israeli army incursions across the occupied West Bank, including the deadly raid that resulted in the killing of 11 Palestinians, including an elderly and a child, and injuring over 100 others by live bullets, six reported in critical to very critical condition, into the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday.
The Council decried the large-scale Israeli crimes, classified as crimes against humanity and war crimes under international humanitarian law, against the Palestinian people, and called on the international community to implement the resolutions relative to the protection of Palestinian civilians, especially UNSC Resolution 904 (1994), UNSC Resolution 605 (1987) and UNGA Resolution 10\20- RES/ES (201) on the Protection of the Palestinian civilian population.
It urged international actors to actively partake in the protection of Palestinian civilians and form a practical and effective mechanism to implement the UNGA Resolution and United Nations Secretary-General’s report, including the viable options to ensure protection of Palestinian civilians.
It urged the UNSC to shoulder its responsibilities in terms of defending international security and peace and take immediate effective actions to halt all Israeli crimes and practices and bring an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967.
It called on the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to assume their responsibilities in terms of to enforce the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, and bring to a halt Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The Council urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct a genuinely independent and impartial investigation into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel, including the crimes of aggression, colonial settlement construction, annexation, extrajudicial killings of Palestinians, and forceful displacement, and hold the perpetrators accountable.
It concluded by reiterating the centrality of the Question of Palestinian to the Arab nation as well as its unwavering support to the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, notably the right to self-determination and the right to establish an independent, sovereign State based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency
Pakistan has expressed its concern over the security of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories following Israel’s killing yesterday of 11 Palestinians and the injury of over 100 during an assault on the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Commenting on the Nablus events, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, “We condemn all acts that lead to the killing of innocent civilians including in occupied Palestinian territories.”
The Spokesperson said Pakistan’s position on Palestine is consistent: “We support a comprehensive approach for resolution of the Palestinian question.”
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan has maintained that there should be a total withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories including Jerusalem. “There should be a restitution of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to exercise self-determination and sovereignty in an independent and viable State of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” she said, calling for a just resolution to the plight of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the United Nations General Assembly resolution.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency