Category: News

استقبل الرئيس الجزائري عبدالمجيد تبون، الثلاثاء، كلًا من رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس، ورئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة “حماس” إسماعيل هنية، في “لقاء أخوي” بالعاصمة الجزائر، وفق الموقع الرسمي للحركة.

ووصل عباس وهنية في وفدين منفصلين، إلى العاصمة الجزائرية مساء الإثنين، بدعوة من الرئيس تبون، للمشاركة في الاحتفالات الرسمية للجمهورية الجزائرية في الذكرى الـ60 لاستقلالها.

وكانت “حماس” قد أعلنت في تصريح صحفي تلقته “قدس برس” الثلاثاء، عن مشاركة هنية ووفد من قيادة الحركة في الاحتفالات، لافتة إلى أن “هذه المشاركة، التي جاءت بدعوة من الرئيس الجزائري، تعبر عن عمق العلاقة بين الجزائر وفلسطين، والشعبين الفلسطيني والجزائري”.

وأضافت أن مشاركة الوفد في الاحتفالات، تؤكد “مدى اعتزاز المقاومة الفلسطينية بالدور الجزائري الداعم لفلسطين، ومكانة حركة حماس لدى القيادة الجزائرية والشعب الجزائري”.

Source: Quds Press International News Agency

أفرجت المحكمة الإسرائيلية في مدينة عسقلان المحتلة، مساء اليوم الثلاثاء، عن المستوطن قاتل الشاب الفلسطيني علي حرب، طعنًا، قبل أيام.

وأفادت /القناة 7/ العبرية أن “القاضي ينيف بوكر أصدر أمرًا يقضي بالإفراج المشروط عن المستوطن المتهم”.

وأضافت القناة أن “من ضمن شروط الإفراج: الحبس المنزلي مدة 8 أيام، ومنع التواصل مع آخرين مشتبه بهم في القضية”.

ونقلت عما يسمى بـ”مسؤول مستوطنات شمال الضفة”، يوسي داغان، قوله “لم يكن من الصواب اعتقاله من الأساس، وهو الذي دافع عن حياته وحياة 20 آخرين، بعد مهاجمتهم على يد مجموعة من المخربين” على حد تعبيره.

وكانت صحيفة /هآرتس/ العبرية نقلت، في وقت سابق اليوم الثلاثاء، عن “ضابط كبير في الشرطة”، قوله إن “الشبهة ضد المستوطن ستُحول إلى إمَاتَة بتهوّر، وهي جريمة عقوبتها القصوى السجن لـ12 سنة”، إذا أنها أقل عقوبةً من تهمة “القتل العمد”.

واستشهد علي حرب (27 عامًا) في 21 حزيران/ يونيو الماضي، إثر إصابته بطعنة مباشرة في القلب بسكين مستوطن، في قرية “اسكاكا” بسلفيت، شمالي الضفة الغربية المحتلة، خلال تواجده في أرضه، التي حاول مستوطنون بناء بؤرة استيطانية فيها.

ويأتي إفراج محكمة الاحتلال عن المستوطن القاتل، بعد سعي الشرطة الإسرائيلية لإفراج عنه، في أعقاب ضغوطات كبيرة مارسها المستوطنون خلال الأيام الأخيرة، من ضمنها مسيرة حاشدة في مستوطنة “أرائيل” قرب سلفيت، نفذوها أمس مطالبين بالإفراج عن المستوطن.

Source: Quds Press International News Agency

Israeli occupation forces today bulldozed agricultural land owned by a Palestinian resident in the village of Burin to the south of Hebron, according to local activist Rateb al-Jabour.

The coordinator of the anti-wall and settlement committees in southern Hebron, Rateb al-Jabour told WAFA that Israeli forces bulldozed land planted with olive trees, destroying at least 50 trees.

Forces also destroyed stone retaining walls, covering an area of 1000 square meters.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Israeli forces today evening set up a military checkpoint on Jenin-Nablus Road, near the village of Silet al-Daher in the northern West Bank, hampering the movement of residents, according to security sources.

Sources told WAFA that Israeli forces stationed at the entrance to the illegal Israeli evacuated settlement of Homesh placed a flying checkpoint on the main road connecting Nablus and Jenin, stopping Palestinian-registered vehicles, and interrogating and checking passengers’ identity cards, causing a heavy traffic jam.

Israeli forces also intensified their military presence in the vicinity of several nearby villages.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem, said yesterday that the Israeli army killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh should be looked at as a crime, not simply a “result of tragic circumstances.”

“All investigations published so far conclude that Israel is responsible for the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,” said B’Tselem in reaction to a US report issued yesterday that absolved Israel of killing Abu Akleh. “It is not clear on what grounds does the US State Department seek to dismiss her killing as ‘the result of tragic circumstances’ and not as a crime for which those responsible should be held to account.”

B’Tselem said the policy of killing Palestinians in the occupied territories is an organized whitewash.

“As far as Israel is concerned, its policy regarding the killing of Palestinians has never been anything other than an organized whitewash meant to enable the continuation of the killings with impunity, and it is no different when it comes to a US citizen as in the current case.”

It added: “The odds that those responsible for the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh will be held to account are all but nonexistent. Meanwhile, Israel’s international impunity remains unchallenged.”

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

In its efforts to keep control over the Palestinian water resources in the occupied territories, Israeli forces today destroyed water spring pipelines in Duma village, south of Nablus city, according to a local official.

Head of Duma village council, Suleiman Dawabsheh, said that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer to Duma spring, south of the village, where the heavy machinery tore down the water pipelines the village council has set up at the spring in addition to a fence built around it.

He added that the spring is the main source of water herders use for their cattle in the village, which has been suffering from serious water shortages in light of Israeli control over all water resources in the occupied territories.

He pointed out that the Israeli army had notified the village council of its intention to stop restoration works at the site, prompting it to raise the issue at Israeli courts, but to no avail.

Rights groups have long reported that Israel’s control of water resources in the occupied West Bank has led to routine water shortages in Palestinian communities.

It has often been pointed out that Israel’s restrictions in the Palestinian territory force Palestinians to buy water directly from Israel while preventing Palestinians from constructing their own wells or other projects to enhance water access.

Most of the Palestinian territory’s land reserves are located in Area C – the more than 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control – where any Palestinian development is mostly prohibited by Israel. In addition, other restrictions, such as barring Palestinians from drilling wells deeper than 140 meters, prevents Palestinians from adequately accessing natural water sources.

As a result of these restrictions, many Palestinian villages in Area C and B – where Israel retains control over security matters – are forced to buy water from Israel’s national Mekorot water company.

Israelis, including settlers, have access to 300 liters of water per day, according to water rights NGO coalition EWASH, while the West Bank average is around 70 liters, well below the World Health Organization’s recommended minimum of 100 liters per day for basic sanitation, hygiene and drinking.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Palestinian administrative detainee Khalil Awawda, 40, resumed his open-ended hunger strike on Saturday after Israel reneged on a promise to release him at the end of his current detention period and instead renewed his detention by four more months, today said the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission.

Commission spokesman Hasan Abed Rabbo told WAFA that Awawda, from the southern West Bank town of Idna and a father of four children, resumed his hunger strike, which he suspended on June 21 after 111 days of fast after he was promised that his administrative detention without charge or trial would not be renewed.

Abed Rabbo voiced concern over Awawda’s health, particularly after his long fast that led to a serious deterioration in his health.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The Israeli occupation forces today razed six dunums of privately-owned Palestinian land located near a checkpoint in the town of Nilin, west of Ramallah, according to local sources.

They told WAFA that army bulldozers razed the land owned by three brothers from Nilin after declaring it a military area.

The land, said the sources, is located near an army-manned checkpoint where around 30,000 Palestinians cross every day to reach their workplaces inside Israel.

The Israeli army, meanwhile, prevented dozens of workers from crossing the checkpoint and forced them to return home.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

A 32-year-old man from the Gaza Strip was last night beaten to death by Israeli soldiers near the separation barrier in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, according to the family of the deceased.

WAFA correspondent said the family of Ahmad Harb Ayyad, from the Zaitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, accused the Israeli soldiers of beating its son to death as he tried to cross the barrier through a hole to reach his workplace inside Israel.

The family said the Israeli army handed it last night the body of its son at the Beit Hanoun/Erez crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip and was later buried at a cemetery in his neighborhood.

Reports said the soldiers also opened fire and injured another Palestinian man in the same area near the separation barrier.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned in a statement today the killing of Ayyad and held the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for what it described as a crime.

It called on the United Nations and the international community to provide protection to the Palestinian people in the occupied territories who are being killed every day by government-sanctioned army acts.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The report the United States has issued on the Israeli murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh dominated the front-page headlines in the three Palestinian Arabic dailies published today.

The main headline in al-Ayyam daily on this topic said: “America exonerates Israel from intentionally killing Shireen: Ballistic analysis did not give any clear results.”

Al-Hayat al-Jadida’s headline said: “The presidency holds Israel full responsibility for the murder of the journalist Abu Akleh.”

The third daily, al-Quds, said: “Washington says the martyr Abu Akleh was not killed intentionally.”

It quoted the Israeli rights organization, B’Teslem, saying that the killing of Abu Akleh is not tragic, but rather a crime.

The three dailies published local reactions to the American report, including the Abu Akleh family and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, in addition to the presidency.

In addition to the Abu Akleh story, the papers highlighted confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers during raids of West Bank cities and towns that led to several injuries among the Palestinians, including one who was reported to be critical in Abu Dis town, east of Jerusalem.

They said the Israeli occupation forces carried out several demolitions in Jerusalem, the Hebron governorate, and the Jordan Valley that affect 35 houses and structures, as reported in al-Quds, which also said that there is a “silent war” in Jerusalem and at Al-Aqsa Mosque where Israeli excavations continue at a high pace.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Algeria yesterday to take part in that country’s 60th anniversary of its independence.

It said 31 members of the US Congress called on their president, Joe Biden, to pressure Israel to stop settlement construction in E1 area, east of Jerusalem.

Al-Ayyam said Israel postponed a discussion on the E1 settlement project, which was planned to start on July 18, four days after US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the region.

The paper also said the Lawyers Union insists on canceling laws by decision that affect the judicial system while the Higher Judicial Council calls for dialogue.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The overall Industrial Production Index (IPI) in Palestine increased in May by 7.92% compared to April, today said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

The increase was due to the increase in the activities of Mining and Quarrying by 21.84%, which had a share of 2.89% of the total industry, and the activities of the Manufacturing Industry by 10.36%, which had a share of 87.89% of the total industry.

At the same time, the activities of Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation decreased by 12.96%, which had a share of 1.84% of the total industry, and the activities of Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply decreased by 10.31%, which had a share of 7.38% of the total industry.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Relatively hot to hot conditions are expected today in Palestine with no change in temperature, which remains around its seasonal average, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department (PMD).

Winds are westerly to northwesterly, light to moderate, and sea waves are low.

Temperature in the capital, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem is expected to reach a high of 30°C and a low of 20°C, and in Ramallah and Hebron a high of 29°C and a low of 19°C are expected. In Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan Valley temperature is expected to reach a high of 38°C and a low of 26°C, while it is expected to reach a high of 31°C and a low of 24°C in Gaza and the coastal areas.

Similar weather conditions and temperature are expected tomorrow, Wednesday, through Friday, said the PMD.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)