Day: 9 March 2023

A Palestinian dawn Thursday sustained an injury from Israeli army gunfire in al-Yamun town, west of Jenin city, according to the Health Ministry.

It confirmed that a Palestinian was hospitalized at Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital for a head injury sustained after being hit by Israeli army gunfire in the northern West Bank town.

It described the condition of the casualty, who remained unidentified, as stable.

This came as special Israeli forces killed three Palestinians after opening fire at their vehicle at the entrance of the town of Jabaa’, south of Jenin.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini concluded an official visit to Cairo on 7-8 March to meet with Egyptian and Arab League officials and renewed his call to support the Agency.

In his address at the opening session of the 159th meeting of the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers at the League of Arab States, where he reiterated that the rights and well-being of Palestine refugees were a collective responsibility, until there is a fair and lasting solution to their plight. He called on member states, especially those with a long tradition of solidarity and support to Palestine refugees, to continue doing so through the Agency’s education, health and other critical services across the region.

During the visit to Cairo, the Commissioner-General met with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, with the Head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service Major General Abbas Kamel, and with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry. In all these discussions, the Commissioner-General reaffirmed the pivotal role of the Egyptian and Arab support for Palestine refugees and UNRWA, as the Agency grapples with some of its biggest political and financial challenges of all times.

The Commissioner-General described the growing tensions in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and referenced the shattering impact of the recent earthquake on people in Syria, including Palestine refugees. “UNRWA is seeking a renewed commitment of member-states of the Arab League to the human development of the Palestine refugee communities. This is a cornerstone of regional stability, and a continuationof the generosity and solidarity that the Arab region is known for. Together we need to bring in knowledge, resources and creative energy to the Palestine refugee communities in the region. Together, we must continue to keep hope alive.”

On the sidelines of the session at the League, the Commissioner-General met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Multi-State Affairs, Abdul Rahman Al-Rasi, State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq, Fouad Hussein to thank them for their unwavering support for UNRWA and to discuss ways of cooperation between the Agency and Arab countries to mobilize political and financial support for the cause of Palestine refugees.

“Longstanding Arab generosity has often transcended political differences and has contributed to one of the most successful human development stories of the region,” said the Commissioner-General. “I truly hope this will remain to be the case this year and beyond, until there is a political solution that includes the end to the plight of Palestine refugees.”

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Israeli navy today targeted Palestinian fishermen offshore Gaza city and injured four, according to WAFA correspondent.

He said that the a fishing boat was sailing offshore the city when Israeli naval boats opened gunfire toward it, injuring the four fishermen aboard.

No information was available on their health condition.

Eighteen years following the Israeli “disengagement” from Gaza, Israel has not actually disengaged from Gaza; it still maintains control of its land borders, access to the sea and airspace.

Two million Palestinians live the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a punishing and crippling Israeli blockade for 12 years and repeated onslaughts that have heavily damaged much of the enclave’s infrastructure.

Gaza’s 2-million population remains under “remote control” occupation and a strict siege, which has destroyed the local economy, strangled Palestinian livelihoods, plunged them into unprecedented rates of unemployment and poverty, and cut off from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and the wider world.

Gaza remains occupied territory, having no control over its borders, territorial waters or airspace. Meanwhile, Israel upholds very few of its responsibilities as the occupying power, failing to provide for the basic needs of Palestinian civilians living in the territory.

Every two in three Palestinians in Gaza is a refugee from lands inside what is now Israel. That government forbids them from exercising their right to return as enshrined in international law because they are not Jews.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Israeli forces today assaulted two Palestinian minors in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to local sources.

They said that the gun-toting soldiers beat two brothers, aged 6 and 8, both members of al-Rajabi family, as the latter were on their way to a store in the southern part of the city before briefly holding them at the army checkpoint, south of Ibrahimi Mosque.

Kifah Rajabi said that the soldiers prevented him approaching the checkpoint to check on the condition of his nephews, whom were cursed obscenely.

The city of Hebron, which houses the Ibrahimi Mosque, is home to roughly 160,000 Palestinian Muslims and about 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers who live in compounds heavily guarded by Israeli troops.

Israel has expelled the only international monitors protecting Hebron’s Palestinians from 800 heavily guarded settlers, one of whom committed the 1994 massacre that triggered their deployment.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The official spokesman for the Palestinian Presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said that Palestinians are ‘waging a major national battle in defense of Jerusalem and the independent national decision.’

Abu Rudeineh added that without a just solution to the Palestinian cause, ending the Israeli occupation, and establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, there is no way to achieve calm or stability, and that any solutions outside international legitimacy and the decisions of the Arab summits and Palestinian national councils are doomed to failure.

He pointed out that in light of the declared Israeli war against “our people, our land, and our sanctities,” being busy secondary battles does not serve the Palestinian people and their national struggle based on national constants.

Abu Rudeineh called on Palestinians people to line up behind the battle for Jerusalem, the leadership of the Liberation Organization and President Mahmoud Abbas to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, with its Islamic and Christian sanctities.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

France today called on Israel to protect Palestinian civilians under its occupation.

French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre voiced her country’s deep concerns following ongoing deadly Israeli army incursions into the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

She urged “all the parties” to respect their commitments and heed the demands of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), particularly with regards to halting all types of violence against civilians.

She deemed it of utmost urgency to restore a political perspective to achieve the two-state solution, with the two states living side by side in peace and security, as this is the only way, in her opinion, to bring about just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Israeli settlers today continued the excavation works of a water spring as a means to take it over, east of Ein el-Beida village, in the northern Jordan Valley, according to a local activist.

Aref Daraghmeh said that the settlers have been carrying out excavation and restoration works for two weeks in the vicinity of the water spring, a part of Khirbet Ad-Dair, as a prelude to seize it.

He pointed that the settlers have been opting to conduct restoration works for water springs as a means to take them over, denying Palestinian farmers and hikers access to them.

Under international law, driving residents of an occupied territory from their homes is considered forcible transfer of protected persons, which constitutes a war crime. But residents of Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley are no strangers to such disruptive Israeli policies.

The valley, which is a fertile strip of land running west along the Jordan River, is home to about 65,000 Palestinians and makes up approximately 30% of the West Bank.

Since 1967, when the Israeli army occupied the West Bank, Israel has transferred at least 11,000 of its Jewish citizens to the Jordan Valley. Some of the settlements in which they live were built almost entirely on private Palestinian land.

The Israel military has also designated about 46 percent of the Jordan Valley as a closed military zone since the beginning of the occupation in June 1967, and has been utilizing the pretext of military drills to forcefully displace Palestinian families living there as part of a policy of ethnic cleansing and stifling Palestinian development in the area.

Approximately 6,200 Palestinians live in 38 communities in places earmarked for military use and have had to obtain permission from the Israeli authorities to enter and live in their communities.

In violation of international law, the Israeli military not only temporarily displaces the communities on a regular basis, but also confiscates their farmlands, demolishes their homes and infrastructure from time to time.

Besides undergoing temporary displacement, the Palestinian families living there face a myriad restrictions on access to resources and services. Meanwhile, Israel exploits the resources of the area and generates profit by allocating generous tracts of land and water resources for the benefit of settlers.

Israeli politicians have made it clear on several occasions that the highly strategic Jordan Valley would remain under their control in any eventuality.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency