Day: 29 April 2023

Three civilians were injured this morning and damage was caused to property as a result of a new Israeli aggression against Syria. The Syrian News Agency, SANA, said that at approximately 12:50 a.m., Israel fired several missiles at locations near the central Syrian city of Homs and that the Syrian air defenses intercepted them and shot down some missiles. It added that the aggression resulted in the injury of three civilians, setting a gas station on fire, and the burning of several reservoirs and trucks.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)

Dozens of Palestinian civil society organizations vehemently denounced and rejected what they described as ‘the shameful statement’ made by the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in which she celebrated Israel’s so-called ‘Independence’ day by using racist anti-Palestinian tropes and denying Palestinian history and the atrocities of the Nakba. ‘These remarks,’ they said in a statement published today, ‘depart from basic political and diplomatic principles and shamelessly favor the occupying power, which engages in persecution, aggression, and state terrorism against the Palestinian people.’ In her speech, Ursula von der Leyen claimed that Israel has made ‘the desert bloom’, utilizing ‘a colonial remark that greenwashes Israel’s settler-colonial project, and its displacement of the indigenous Palestinian people and the illegal confiscation of their land,’ said the 34 civil society organizations that signed the statement. ‘We further reject Ms. von der Leyen’s use of biblical references that align with the Israeli occupier’s narrative that erases the Palestinian people and denies their deep roots in the land and their inalienable right to self-determination. This forms the foundation for the racist so-called ‘Nation-State Law’ that Israel is now using to entrench colonization and complete annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem,’ added the statement. ‘The horrific events of the Palestinian Nakba which paved the way for the foundation of Israel; including displacing over 750,000 Palestinians and rendering them refugees to this day, razing hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns, and committing dozens of massacres, continue to manifest today through different ways yet with the same overall aim of displacing the indigenous Palestinian people and replacing them with Jewish Israelis across historical Palestine through ethnic cleansing,’ it said. ‘The European Union’s failure to hold Israel accountable for its countless crimes and human rights violations, including the crime against humanity of apartheid, fuels the culture of impunity that Israel enjoys as it escalates its aggression against the Palestinian people and their land, especially in light of the new extremist Israeli government. Instead of contributing to ending Israeli violations and delivering long-awaited justice to Palestine, the EU continues to reward Israel, the occupying power, with more political, economic, and technological support and cooperation.’ The Palestinian civil society organizations urged the European Union ‘to assume its responsibility, by refraining from such inflammatory and objectionable language as well as from employing double standards in dealing with issues related to the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, as guaranteed by all relevant international laws and agreements.’ They also called on elected European officials ‘to muster the courage and political will to pressure Israel into abiding by international law by holding it accountable with concrete and effective measures that align with existing European Union laws and international obligations and principles,’ while thanking ‘our friends and allies across Europe for speaking out and rejecting this overt anti-Palestinian racism’ urging them to hold their officials accountable. ‘Like all other forms of hate and discrimination, anti-Palestinianism must not be tolerated,’ stressed the 34 civil society organizations. Signatories: The Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO) AMAN Coalition AFKAR Organization for Educational and Cultural Development Alnajd Developmental Forum Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society Bisan Center for Research and Development Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights ‘Hurryyat’ Federation of Woman Action Committee Filastiniyat General Union of Cultural Centers Human Rights and Democracy Media Center ‘SHAMS’ Jerusalem Human Rights Consortium (JHRC) Jerusalem Legal Aid Center (JLAC) MA’AN Development Center Mothers School Society MUSAWA- The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession Palestinian Farmers’ Union Palestinian Health Work Committees (HWC) PALTEAM Association for Community Development Teacher Creativity Center The Civil Commission for the Independence of Judiciary and Rule of Law ‘Istqlal’ The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession MUSAWA The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Gaza (PCHR) The Palestinian Development Women Studies Association The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy – MIFTAH The Women’s Studies Centre Union of Palestinian women committees (UPWC) Wasel Center for Youth Development Women Media and Development Women’s Affairs Technical Committee Women’s Studies Centre Women’s Action Association for Rehabilitation Women and the Child Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) YWCA of Palestine

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)

The Israeli occupation forces today ordered the removal of a Palestinian-owned residential tent in the northern Jordan Valley, according to a local official. Motaz Bisharat, an official in Tubas governorate, said the Israeli forces ordered a resident of Khirbet al-Deir in the northern Jordan Valley to remove a residential tent, a solar energy panel, a toilet, and a water tank under the pretext they were installed without a permit. Israel does not allow Palestinian development in Area C of the occupied West Bank, which includes most of the Jordan Valley.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)

The Israeli occupation forces continued today to suffocate many areas in the north and east of the occupied West Bank with checkpoints that cause long delays for residents and people commuting on the roads. In the northern Jordan Valley, the occupation forces continued for the 22nd day to man al-Hamra checkpoint located at an intersection connecting northern West Bank cities with the Jordan Valley. Cars are stopped as the papers of occupants are thoroughly checked resulting in a long line of cars waiting to cross the checkpoint and long delays for people trying to reach their destinations. Another checkpoint at Tayaseer intersection also in the northern Jordan Valley causes long delays for people trying to cross it. Further south, the Israeli army continues to man checkpoints at roads leading into the ancient and tourist city of Jericho for the second week in a row. Long lines of cars are also seen waiting to enter or leave Jericho, considered a top touristic destination for Palestinians and visitors at this time of the year. The checkpoints have caused many people to avoid going to Jericho, which, according to local officials, have caused that city’s economy millions of dollars in losses. In the north of West Bank, and specifically at the town of Hawara, south of Nablus and a scene of a recent pogrom by Jewish extremists, the army has intensified its checkpoint at the main road that connects the north and the south of the West Bank, stopping and checking cars and passengers and causing long lines of cars waiting to cross the checkpoint.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)

The President of the Republic, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, discussed today, Saturday, with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ali Khamenei, a number of regional and international issues of mutual interest.

A presidential statement stated that the President of the Republic met, today, Saturday, with Khamenei in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and during the meeting, they reviewed the established and existing friendship relations between the two countries, where the President stressed the importance of strengthening them in a way that serves the common interests of the two neighboring peoples.

In turn, the Supreme Leader affirmed the Islamic Republic’s keenness on its permanent support for Iraq and its standing by it in order to achieve stability in the region on the security, political and economic levels.

According to the statement, a number of regional and international issues of mutual interest were discussed.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, issued a covenant document for his followers, calling on them to adhere to the methodology of the two Sadrist martyrs.

It came in a comment by his minister, Saleh al-Iraqi: A historical document in the handwriting of Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr. It was written on the eighth of Shawwal 1444, to be distributed by a specialized committee through the private office, then signed and fingerprinted on it until before the anniversary of the martyrdom of our beloved Al-Sadr, to consider the following by issuing another decision that results from this document.

He added, “We ask everyone to cooperate, discipline, centralize, and not be exclusive and disperse in signing it. There is a special party that will collect it to deliver it to His Eminence directly … So wait, I am with you among those waiting, and stop harming your leader with all my respect to the obedient and loyal.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency