Day: 22 May 2023

Dozens of Jewish radical settlers, led by extremist rabbi Yehudah Glick, early Monday stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque / Haram Al Sharif compound in occupied Jerusalem, a Palestinian source confirmed.

A statement by the General Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said the settlers carried out today’s raids through al-Magharebah Gate under the heavy protection of Israeli escort, who restricted Muslim worshippers’ access to the mosque to secure the settlers’ incursions.

“The settlers toured the mosque’s yards, provocatively performed their Talmudic rituals, and listened to explanations about the purported ‘Temple Mount’,” it added.

Source: Jordan News Agency

A specialized training course in radiation security, organized by the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC) in coordination with the Office of Radiological Security (ORS) at the US Department of Energy, was concluded in the southern city of Aqaba.

In a statement on Monday, Chairman of EMRC Board of Commissioners Ziyad Saaida said that the course aimed at raising awareness about radiation security, improving the capabilities of the commission’s cadres, and finding qualified trainers to educate and train the commission’s partners in the areas of radiation and nuclear work in particular to strengthen its regulatory and supervisory role on the sector.

Saaida emphasized the importance of collaboration with the local, regional, or international specialized authorities in the domain to exchange knowledge and expertise, and to build the capacity of workers in the sector.

For their part, the trainers from the US Department of Energy praised the commission’s cooperation in holding such a course and the interaction of its staff participated in the event.

Source: Jordan News Agency

SESAME, the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East, has announced the successful delivery of the first X-ray photon beam to the experimental station of the BEATS (BEAmline for Tomography at SESAME) beamline. The milestone achievement took place on Thursday, May 11, 2023.

A statement by SESAME on Monday said that during the experiment, the beamline detectors obtained over 1000 X-ray radiographic images of a rotating test sample in a mere 12 seconds. The collected data was then processed and reconstructed using the high-performance computing facility specifically designed for the beamline, which was installed at SESAME in 2022. This cutting-edge technology enables the generation of a detailed 3D image of the object under study.

The BEATS beamline offers full-field X-ray radiography and tomography, two powerful and non-destructive techniques for 3D imaging and analysis of various objects and materials. This non-destructive approach is of significant importance to the fields of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, as it provides virtual volume images that aid in the characterization of internal microstructures. Moreover, tomography plays a crucial role in achieving a comprehensive understanding of diverse materials, objects, and organisms.

The applications of the BEATS beamline span a wide range of scientific and technological fields, including medicine, biology, engineering, materials science, earth sciences, and planetary sciences. Its availability at SESAME enhances the scientific capabilities and research opportunities for scientists and researchers in the region.

The design of the SESAME BEATS beamline draws inspiration from the tomography beamline at the Swiss Light Source (SLS) and has been fully optimized for absorption and phase contrast imaging.

Great care has been taken to ensure the coherence of the X-rays. The X-ray source utilized is a 3T 3-pole wiggler, which significantly enhances the photon flux at X-ray energies up to 80 keV, enabling the investigation of a wide range of materials and samples.

Gianluca Iori, the BEATS beamline scientist, expressed his excitement, stating, “We were euphoric observing the first 3D images of BEATS only a few minutes after starting our tests. It was the realization of four years of hard work, which made everyone at SESAME extremely proud.”

The construction of the BEATS beamline was made possible through a collaborative effort between leading research facilities in the Middle East (SESAME and The Cyprus Institute) and European synchrotron radiation facilities, including ALBA-CELLS (Spain), DESY (Germany), Elettra (Italy), the ESRF (France), INFN (Italy), PSI (Switzerland), and SOLARIS (Poland). The European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program provided the funding for this initiative, which was coordinated by the ESRF.

Researchers will have the opportunity to submit proposals to utilize the BEATS beamline starting in September 2023, opening up new avenues for scientific exploration and discoveries at SESAME.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Israeli occupation authorities today notified four Palestinian families in Humsa al-Fawqa village, southeast of Tubas, for military drills, according to an activist.

Aref Daraghmeh said that the occupation forces barged their way into the northern Jordan Valley village and notified four families that they need to leave their houses on May 23, May 31 and June 13 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 AM of the following day to make room for army drills.

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

The Israeli occupation authorities today notified a villager of Tura of their intention to demolish his house, according to the village.

Ahmad Qabaha said that Israeli forces barged their way into the village and handed him a military order, notifying him of their intention to knock down his 140-square-meter two-storey house, purportedly for being built without a license.

The order Qabaha 96 hours to leave the house before the demolition is carried out.

Israel refuses to permit virtually any Palestinian construction in Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.

In contrast, it much more easily gives over 800,000 Jewish supremacist Israeli settlers there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.

The ‘Civil Administration’ is the name Israel gives to the body administering its military occupation of the West Bank.

Soldiers in the oxymoronically named Civil Administration determine where Palestinians may live, where and when they may travel (including to other parts of the occupied territories like Gaza and East Jerusalem), whether they can build or expand homes on their own land, whether they own that land at all, whether an Israeli settler can takeover that land among others.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency

Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians during a large-scale assault on Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Nablus early this morning and injured six others, one of them seriously, according to the Ministry of Health, and blew up a house.

It said Fathi Jihad Rizq, 30, Abdullah Yousef Abu Hamdan, 24, and Mohammad Bilal Zeitoun, 32, were killed during the assault.

Witnesses said a large force raided the camp in the early hours and deployed snipers on rooftops.

Clashes broke out between armed men and the soldiers which led to the killing of the three and the injury of six others, one no of them seriously.

The soldiers also broke into dozens of homes in the camp, searched and ransacked them, and blew up one house for the Abu Shalal family injuring a young boy and girl from shrapnel and causing damage to nearby homes.

The Israeli army has killed or caused the death of 156 Palestinians since the start of the year, among them 26 minors, and including 36 in the Gaza Strip.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) today accused Israel of declaring an open war against the Palestinians with the killing this morning of three young men during an army assault into the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

PLO Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said in a tweet that the Israeli occupation government sent its army to commit another of its daily crimes against the Palestinian people, the last of which was the killing and destruction this morning in Balata refugee camp in Nablus.

‘The occupation government declares an open war with the Palestinians by killing, destroying houses, settlements and destroying sanctities, which requires all Palestinians to unite and develop policies to confront this arrogance and this dangerous escalation,’ said al-Sheikh.

‘The occupation government announces that the price of its survival and the continuation of its coalition is Palestinian blood,’ he said.

The Israeli occupation forces have killed or caused the death of 156 Palestinians since the start of the year in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including dozens of women and children.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency

The Southern Movement component participating in the National Dialogue Conference which signed on the Peace and Partnership Agreement, has congratulated the Leader of the Revolution, Sayyed AbdulMalik al-Houthi, and His Excellency Field Marshal Mahdi al-Mashat, President of the Supreme Political Council, and the Yemeni people on the occasion of the 33rd National Day of the Republic of Yemen, May 22.

The movement component mentioned in the telegram that the Yemeni unity has gone through great turns and has been subjected to huge distortions practiced by some with the aim of undermining its values and principles firmly established in the conscience of the Yemeni people.

It stressed that Yemeni unity is the subject of unanimity and a national constant that cannot be forfeited and a dear and precious gain in the hearts of all the Yemeni people.

Source: Yemen News Agency

The coalition of political parties and forces opposed to aggression have affirmed that the achievement of the blessed Yemeni unity is the greatest of the Yemeni stations that have triumphed for the unity of the people and the land, and from which the Yemenis draw lessons on the stages and stations of national steadfastness.

The coalition indicated in a statement on the occasion of the 33rd National Day of the Republic of Yemen, May 22, that this occasion, dear to the souls of all Yemenis, comes while the homeland is witnessing desperate attempts by the aggression to pass an agenda targeting this historic achievement and its continuation in impoverishing the occupied lands and squandering their resources.

The statement stressed that Sana’a cannot compromise on sovereignty and national unity and the liberation of all Yemeni lands from the filth of the occupation, pointing out that Yemen, with its free forces and steadfast people, will not accept any steps taken by the occupier and its tools towards the interests, unity and territorial integrity of the country.

It renewed the call to all the Yemeni people, in north and in south, to rally around the national forces in Sana’a, which have proven through their solid and responsible positions that they are the faithful guardian of the national constants that unite all the people.

Source: Yemen News Agency