Day: 24 June 2023

Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian gunman who opened fire on an illegal Israeli checkpoint north of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, lightly wounding a guard, police said while a Palestinian armed group claimed the attack.

Israeli police said on Saturday a “suspect opened fire at the security forces operating at the (Qalandia) crossing”.

“The security forces operating at the crossing engaged the threat by returning fire and neutralised the terrorist. The death of the terrorist was later determined at the scene,” a police statement said.

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA identified the gunman as an 18-year-old from Kafr Aqab, the northernmost Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a Palestinian armed group, in a statement said “our heroic fighters… were able to directly target occupation soldiers at Qalandia checkpoint.”

The Qalandia checkpoint is used by the Israeli military to control Palestinian access to occupied East Jerusalem and Israel. Israel requires Palestinians to have permits to pass through the checkpoint to occupied East Jerusalem and Israel for work, medical care, education or for religious purposes.

According to Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, most of the Palestinians who use the checkpoint are residents of occupied East Jerusalem separated from the city by Israel’s separation wall, deemed to violate international law by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2004.

Israel’s deadly raid on Jenin

The shooting follows an escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank this week. On Monday, Israel conducted a military raid into the Jenin refugee camp, killing at least seven Palestinians, including children, and wounding at least 91 Palestinians, according to a UN statement.

Israeli military forces stormed the camp, firing live ammunition, stun grenades and toxic gas, according to the Wafa news agency. Combat helicopters were used for the first time in decades after hours-long fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed fighters.

Israel claimed the raid was to arrest two wanted Palestinian resistance fighters.

Mohammed Kamanji, a lawyer and field researcher with the Independent Commission for Human Rights, said the latest attack was one of the largest Israeli military incursions into Jenin.

A day after the deadly raid on the refugee camp, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israeli settlers at a petrol station between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus.

On Wednesday Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli military, carried out a brutal attack on the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the central occupied West Bank, murdering one Palestinian and wounding dozens of others and burning 30 houses, 60 cars, and dozens of olive trees.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, urged Israel on Friday to stop the violence.

“This week’s violence in the occupied West Bank risks spiralling out of control, fuelled by strident political rhetoric, and an escalation in the use of advanced military weaponry by Israel,” Turk said in a statement.

He added that the Israeli military’s raid on the Jenin refugee camp was a “major intensification of the use of weaponry more generally associated with the conduct of armed hostilities, rather than a law enforcement situation”.

So far this year, Israeli military raids into occupied Palestinian territory have killed at least 175 Palestinians. Palestinian gunmen have killed 25 Israelis.

Source: TRTworld.com

Fishermen in the Palestinian territory of Gaza say their businesses have been crippled by a tightening of Israel’s blockade. Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been under a land and sea blockade since 2007, which has severely hampered all economic activity. Shoaib Hasan has the story.

Source: TRTworld.com

Israel’s far-right national security minister has called for a wider military operation and intensive illegal settlement campaign in the occupied West Bank, according to local media.

“There needs to be full settlement here. Not just here but on all the hilltops around us,” said Itamar Ben-Gvir, a notorious trouble-maker who leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party in PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government coalition, during a visit on Friday to the illegal hilltop outpost of Eviatar, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.

“We have to settle the land of Israel and at the same time need to launch a military campaign, blow up buildings, assassinate terrorists. Not one, or two, but dozens, hundreds, or if needed, thousands,” he added.

“Because, ultimately, it is the only way we will seize this place, strengthen our hold and restore security to the residents.”

His hardline remarks came as the UN human rights chief urged Israel to end the violence in the occupied West Bank immediately.

“Israel must urgently reset its policies and actions in the Occupied West Bank in line with international human rights standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

The Israeli army on Monday carried out a series of air strikes on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, murdering at least seven Palestinians, including a boy and a girl, and wounding 91 Palestinians and seven Israeli soldiers, according to the UN statement.

On Wednesday, illegal settlers under the protection of Israeli military carried out a brutal attack on the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the central West Bank, murdering one Palestinian and wounding dozens of others and burning 30 houses, 60 cars, and dozens of olive trees.

Occupied West Bank violence

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank in recent months amid repeated Israeli incursions into Palestinian towns.

Nearly 180 Palestinians have been murdered by Israeli forces since the start of this year, according to the Health Ministry.

At least 25 Israelis have also been murdered in separate attacks during the same period.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

It withdrew troops from Gaza in 2005 and has since imposed a harsh blockade from land, air and sea on the tiny Palestinian enclave, disabling the entire population from leaving or entering Gaza and choking the import and export of goods.

Estimates indicate that about 700,000 illegal settlers are living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal.

New illegal outposts

The Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported at least seven new illegal outposts were built in the West Bank since Thursday.

The new construction follows Netanyahu’s announcement on Wednesday of plans for 1,000 new homes in the Eli illegal settlement in response to a gun attack in the area the previous day that killed four Israelis.

According to the Israeli watchdog Peace Now, Eli was built in 1984 and some 4,600 illegal settlers reside there.

Palestinians in the area say they were dispossessed of their land to allow for the illegal settlement’s expansion over the years.

Palestine’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s new settlement projects, which it said were part of its plan to de facto annex the West Bank.

Israel is “permanently closing the door to any opportunity for a political solution to the conflict,” it said.

Source: TRTworld.com

Palestine yesterday slammed Israel’s new settlement projects in the West Bank, saying, the move is a disregard for international legitimacy.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement that, “The Israeli government has given the green light to Israeli settlement associations to establish dozens of illegal random settlement outposts, in various areas of the occupied West Bank,” which is an “official Israeli effort to accelerate annexation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

Israeli settlers have established no less than seven new random settlement outposts, since Thursday, in the West Bank, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported yesterday.

“Accelerating settlement leads to closing the door permanently to the opportunity to revive the peace process and implement the two-state solution principle,” the foreign ministry statement said.

It added that, “the measure is an official Israeli disregard for international legitimacy and its resolutions, international law and Israel’s obligations as an occupying power, towards the lands it occupies.”

The Security Council Resolution 2334, issued in 2016, reiterated its demand that Israel ceases all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Israel took control of the West Bank in 1967 and established dozens of settlements there.

The settlement issue is the most prominent aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and one of the main reasons for halting the last peace negotiations between the two sides in 2014

Source: Nam News Network

13 major Jordanian companies specialized in the food industry are scheduled to take part Sunday, in Fancy Food Show 2023, which will open in New York City. Jordan Exporters Association (JEA) will participate in the three-day event, while the participating local industrial companies are specialized in the sectors of Arabic desserts, spices, thyme, nuts and coffee. In a statement on Saturday, JEA general director, Halim Abu Rahma, said Jordan’s participation represents an opportunity to get acquainted with new trading partners globally and open new and promising markets, especially those with which Jordan has free trade agreements. Abu Rahma noted the exhibition constitutes the largest event specialized in food and beverages in North America, and attracts exhibitors and visitors from all over the world. JEA has been participating in the exhibition since 2013, as part of its plans and programs to support and enable the industry to enter new markets, he said. Abu Rahma called on companies to optimize benefit from participating in the food show by networking and promoting Jordanian industry, seeking to conclude deals and attract buyers. Stressing importance of supporting participation in foreign exhibitions, he said this policy is a “successful” way to promote exports and open new markets, to achieve goals of the executive program of Economic Modernization Vision (EMV) in increasing national exports during the next three years to more than JD9 billion. Abu Rahma noted U.S. is one of the strongest markets, in terms of purchasing power and a promising destination for national exports, as multiple national products could U.S. market and meet its needs, due to existence of a free trade agreement (FTA) signed between the two countries. Jordan signed a FTA with U.S. in 2000, aimed to strengthening friendship and economic, trade and investment cooperation. During the first quarter of 2023, national exports to the U.S. increased by 8% to reach JD394 million, compared to JD365 million for the same period last year, according to official data.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites, Head of Jordanian Hajj missions, Mohammad Khalayleh, on Saturday met with Palestinian Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Hatem Bakri, at the headquarters of the Jordanian pilgrimage delegation in the holy city of Mecca. During the meeting, Khalayleh said Jordanian Hajj missions are ready to provide assistance to Palestinian pilgrims, stressing “strength” of Jordanian-Palestinian relations under leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah II and President Mahmoud Abbas. Khalayleh added that Jordan has always provided support and assistance for Palestinian people, recalling the late King Hussein bin Talal’s move to grant temporary Jordanian passports to 48-Arab pilgrims to perform Hajj and Umrah. He also referred to the “full” coordination and cooperation between the Jordanian and Palestinian Hajj missions to provide the “best” services to the two countries’ pilgrims, expressing hope pilgrims return to their families safely. For his part, Bakri lauded His Majesty King Abdullah II’s positions towards Palestinian people, stressing importance of Hashemite Custodianship over Jerusalem’s holy sites. Moreover, he stressed “strong, historic” bilateral relations at the popular and official levels, based on the bonds of brotherhood, unity of blood and destiny.

Source: Jordan News Agency