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Dec. 16, 2014
Daily summary- Friday, February 14, 2014
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Main News
GAZA: ONE MARTYR AND ANOTHER INJURED EAST OF SHUJAIYEH
Spokesperson for the de facto ministry of health Ashraf Al Qidra confirmed that 26-year old Ibrahim Mansour from east Shujaiyeh was killed yesterday evening from wounds he sustained earlier. Qidra said Mansour was seriously injured by a bullet to the head, shot by Israeli occupation soldiers near the border separating east of the Strip with the green Line. Qidra also said that a 21-year old man was also injured moderately after being shot in the foot. According to eyewitnesses and some social media network sites, the two young men were gathering gravel near the former Karni [Mintar] crossing east of Gaza City, when they were shot at by Israeli forces with no prior warning. According to security sources in the de facto government, the men were gathering the gravel a distance from the buffer zone set up by Israel in the area, which is 300 meters in depth along the border, saying this was a flagrant breach of the truce agreement. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Israel has injured 38 civilians in this week alone, including four children, in the West Bank and Gaza. The center also said that Israeli warplanes had carried out three air raids and two shootings at the borders, in addition to six incidents of shooting at fishing boats. (Al Ayyam)
EZZARIYEH: ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES CRACK DOWN ON SIT IN PROTESTING THE E1 SETTLEMENT PLAN
Israeli occupation forces oppressed a sit in near the town of Ezzariyeh yesterday east of Jerusalem, set up in protest of land confiscation as part of the E1 project and in response to settler attempts to break into the site where the village of Bab Al Shams was set up, the first symbol of Palestinian popular resistance. Eyewitnesses said Israeli soldiers prevented protesters from reaching the lands threatened with confiscation for the benefit of the E1 project, also arresting activist Ahmad Zawahreh. The protesters raised Palestinian flags and slogans calling for an end to the occupation and settlements.
Furthermore, hundreds of settlers called yesterday on the Israeli government to begin implementing the E1 settlement project, linking Maaleh Adumim settlement with West Jerusalem, during a demonstration held in the area. The demonstration was attended by three Israeli ministers as well: housing minister Uri Ariel, transportation minister Yizrael Katz and agricultural minister Yair Shamir, in addition to deputy defense minister Dani Dannon and deputy foreign minister Zeev Elkin. Also head of the government coalition Yariv Levin attended. Housing minister Ariel said that “Israel must not heed to any pressure, no matter the source,” adding that “The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.” Elkin also said that “The state of Israel has the right to build in E1”, saying that they would “settlement from the east to the west.” (Al Ayyam)
AROUND 113,000 PALESTINIANS ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THE WATER NETWORK; ISRAELI WATER WITHDRWAL IS DRYING UP WELLS
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the Palestinian citizen consumes 73 liters of water for household purposes a day, which is must lower than the average consumption of Israelis. What is worse is that 113,000 Palestinians in the West Bank living in approximately 70 villages and populated areas are still not connected to water networks and depend on portable water tanks for their water source, which is very expensive. According to the newspaper, most of the people who are not linked are poor and are forced to spend around 40% of their income on water where the daily consumption for each individual in Area C is around 20 liters a day. Water is also cut off for days on most of the West Bank areas during the summer, especially in the south, sometimes reaching weeks or even a month. Hence, according to the World Health Organization, the consumption of around 1 million Palestinians does not reach the minimum average consumption of 60 liters a day.
The Oslo Accords have kept water sources in the West Bank in the hands of Israel and gave them the right to veto anything regarding the water infrastructure in the West Bank. (Al Quds)
CAMERAS INSTALLED IN SETTLERS’ CARS…A NEW METHOD BEING USED BY THE ISRAELI ARMY FOR CATCHING STONE-THROWERS
Israeli sources said yesterday that many settlers have installed cameras in their cars which they claim can document traffic violations on West Bank roads where there is no legal monitoring. The cameras also catch stone and firebomb throwers and are used by the Israeli army in apprehending them, the latest case being a stone-throwing cell from the village of Azzoun near Qalqilya. According to the Israeli daily Maariv, the army said that the incidents of stone-throwing in the Azzoun village had gone down after the arrests, saying the cameras in settlers’ cars had helped them take pictures of the Palestinians involved. (Al Quds)
ABU MARZOUQ: WE REJECT THE FORMATION OF ANY GOVERNMENT ON THE BASIS OF THE GAZA STRIP BEING APPENDED TO THE WEST BANK
Hamas’ deputy politburo chief Mousa Abu Marzouq said yesterday that he rejected the idea of the formation of a new Palestinian government on the basis of the Gaza Strip being appended to the West Bank. Abu Marzouq told Al Quds’ “Bawaba” website that the reconciliation does not mean that the Gaza Strip will be an appendix to the West Bank and the creation of a new government. “The reconciliation will be an agreement on a national unity government and on independent technocrats.” He said this meant that the security services in the Gaza Strip and West Bank would remain the same but with a solution to the internal problems of those who were laid off or fired from them. Abu Marzouq also called for a resumption of the PLC to take on its full responsibilities. (Al Quds)
THOUSANDS OF LAWYERS ON STRIKE IN THE WEST BANK, DEMANDING JUDICIAL REFORMS
Thousands of lawyers suspended their work in various courts in the West Bank following a decision by the lawyers’ guild, demanding judicial reforms. Sit-ins were held in front of the courthouses in each district calling for the independence and reform of the judiciary and for integrity to prevail in the system. (Al Quds)
ARAB LEAGUE COUNCIL MEETING ON WEDNESDAY TO DISCUSS PRISONERS
Palestinian representative to the Arab League in Egypt Barakat Al Farra said yesterday that an emergency meeting would be held for the Arab League at the level of permanent representatives next Wednesday to discuss ways of supporting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Farra said the meeting was being held at the request of the Palestinians and that prisoner affairs minister Issa Qaraqe’ would attend. He said the meeting was aimed at shedding light on the issue of prisoners and expose Israel’s policies towards them and what the Arab League and Arab counties could offer in the way of alleviating their suffering. Also to find ways of putting the case of prisoners to the UN and international community so they could pressure Israel into freeing them. (Al Quds)
SIT-IN IN FRONT OF THE EU HEADQUARTERS PROTESTING HOUSE DEMOLITIONS IN JERUSALEM
Dozens of Jerusalemites held a sit-in in front of the EU headquarters yesterday in occupied Jerusalem in protest of the policy of home demolitions by Israel. The participants also handed a letter to the EU calling for immediate intervention and to take the necessary measures to deter Israel from demolishing homes and committing war crimes. According to Ziad Hammouri from the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights, Israel has increased this policy and has demolished around 15 homes since the beginning of the year, adding that more than 20,000 homes in Jerusalem are currently threatened with demolition under the pretext of a lack of proper licensing.
Media official at the EU Shadi Othman, meanwhile, said the letter would be handed to the EU headquarters in Brussels and the issue of home demolitions would be discussed in the EU’s coming meetings. (Al Ayyam)
SILWAN: DOZENS OF STUDENTS SUFFER TEARGAS INHALATION DURING CONFRONTATIONS WITH THE ARMY
Dozens of students from the boys’ and girls’ school in Silwan suffered severe teargas inhalation yesterday after Israeli troops fired canisters heavily into a crowd of students during confrontations between them. According to eyewitnesses the confrontations broke out after students were heading to schools and were stopped by Israeli troops to be searched (Al Ayyam)
ISRAEL ALLOWS ENTRY OF SICK PATIENTS FROM GAZA AFTER DISPUTE OVER ‘STATE OF PALESTINE’ EMBLEM
Yesterday, Israel allowed in 35 sick patients from the Gaza Strip, who had been barred from leaving the Strip because of the ’State of Palestine” on their transfer papers. A Palestinian official said that Israel finally caved, and allowed the entry of the patients without anything being changed on the documents. An Israeli official, however, said that the phrase had been changed to the “Palestinian Authority”. According to the Israeli army official, Guy Inbar, 35 applications were checked and approved and that 200 more were patients and those who are accompanying them were expected to cross over today. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
AGREEMENT TO SUSPEND TEACHING OF HUMAN RIGHTS CLASSES IN UNRWA SCHOOLS IN GAZA
The education ministry in the de facto government in Gaza said yesterday that it had agreed with UNRWA to suspend human rights classes in UNRWA schools in the Strip, saying they contained “dangerous transgressions that harm the Palestinian cause and Palestinian and Islamic culture.” Mutasim Minawi from the ministry said that the curriculum continued ‘distortion of the refugee cause,” explaining that that it ‘minimized it and portrayed it as if the refugees were people who simply fled.” He said this was a stifling of the truth since they left forcibly because of the massacres carried out by Zionist gangs. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
ABU MAZEN TO MEET WITH 270 ISRAELIS, SOME OF THEM EXTREMISTS
On Sunday, President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with 270 young Israelis who represent all sectors and parties in Israeli society, as part of the series of meetings held by the leadership with Israeli society in order to better convey the Palestinian viewpoint on the two-state solution and achieving peace. Fatah leader Mohammed Al Madani said that over 1,400 Israeli youths had asked to participate in the meeting and that 270 had been chosen. He said Abbas would convey a picture of who there could be an end to the conflict to the Israeli youths and the Palestinian demands on a final settlement such as Jerusalem and refuges. Madani added that there would be extreme right-wing youths in the delegation, who would be allowed to ask the President questions and receive his responses, saying his committee actually sought out these extremists so that they could send them the message of: giving the Palestinians their rights is not a concession for Israel but is in the interest of both sides to live in security and peace.” (http://www.qudsnet.com/news/View/265824/)
CONSTRUCTION SUPERVISOR IN THE ISRAELI CIVIL ADMINISRATION BUILT HOME ON PALESTINIAN LAND
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz this morning, a senior official in the Israeli army’s civil administration in the Wet Bank has built his home and expanded it over the past 20 years on privately-owned Palestinian land in the Ofra settlement near Ramallah. According to the newspaper, the official, named Yigal Rotem, is a senior supervisor in the civil administration and therefore the construction monitors overlooked his house and did not give him a demolition order each time they came to the area, even though the orders given out have never been carried out. Rotem has been in charge of monitoring construction in the Ramallah area for years even though he has lived in the Givat Tzifi neighborhood of Ofra for 20 years, all built on privately owned Palestinian land and without a license. Haaretz said his home is a well-known fact among all the civil administration authorities but that they turn a blind eye to it, saying it had been built 20 years ago and that its status was valid at the time. (http://safa.ps/details/news/122683.html)
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Headlines
*Gideon Levy: America is trying to impose a “surrender agreement” on the Palestinians (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*The PA omits slot for religion on ID cards (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*The President discusses latest developments with Gul and Eredogan and receives delegation from national coalition of independents (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Palestinians head the list of the 50 most influential people in Hungarian tourism (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Bennet attacks EU parliament chief: I will not allow anyone to tell lies about Israel (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Hamas continues its silence over the Apollo statue (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Man killed by unknown bullets east of Nablus (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Spoiled food confiscated and 1206 boxes of cigarettes and tobacco apprehended (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Increase in net profit for ‘Paltel group” to JD 91.8 million last year (Al Ayyam)
*Will the Knesset discuss imposing Israeli sovereignty on the Aqsa next Tuesday? (Al Ayyam)
*Dozens of settlers break into the Aqsa (Al Ayyam)
*Occupation forces continue their military drills in the Jordan Valley (Al Quds)
*Gaza exports thousands of flowers to Europe (Al Quds)
*Al Arabi: no progress in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations (Al Quds)
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Front Page Photos
Al- Quds:Jerusalem: Israeli forces crack down on a demonstration of dozens of activists in front of the Maaleh Adumim settlement in response to settler demonstration in E1 area
Al-Ayyam: Israeli soldiers besiege participants in sit-in before storming it in Ezzariyeh
Al Hayat Al Jadida:.Activists in front of the Maaleh Adumim settlement yesterday; 2) Archived picture of the Apollo statue found in Gaza
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More Headlines
Slot for religion stricken from Palestinian ID cards
The Interior Ministry announced yesterday President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to cancel the box for ‘religion” on Palestinian ID cards in compliance with the Basic Law. According to deputy minister Hasan Alawi, the Basic Law clearly stipulates that there should be no discrimination between citizens on the basis of religion or race. He said there was ‘no need’ for the religion box on ID cards. He also said that this had been the subject of discussion with Israeli authorities since 1995 and had gone into effect two days ago. President Abbas said the decision was a ‘step in the right direction.” The decision also includes cancelling the box for ‘profession’ off of Palestinian passports should Israeli authorities agree. (Al Quds)
Two Palestinian martyrs in Syria, one who died under torture
According to the Working group for Palestinians in Syria, Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Madi died under torture in a Syrian security facility yesterday after being arrested upon arrival to Syria from the UAE 9/6/2013. The group also said that another young man, Tareq Anabtawi from the town of Jileen was killed during armed confrontations in the city of Quneirta. (http://safa.ps/details/news/122674.html)
Saddam Hussein’s gun found in Kufr Qassem!
Israeli police announced yesterday that they had seized a gun from a Palestinian youth in the town of Kufr Qassem inside the Green Line with the inscription “A gift from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to those who defended their homeland.” The police said the gun had been given to the man in question, who was arrested and being detained for questioning. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
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Arab Press
Historic framework or reheated coffee dregs?
by Rami G. Khouri
The widespread anticipation among what seems like just 27 people in the United States who follow the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations is that US Secretary of State John Kerry will soon table a set of American positions or proposals for the key elements of a “framework agreement” that would define the next phase of the permanent status talks and extend them beyond the April deadline.
We are also told two other significant things by some among the 27 faithful followers: The US positions on key issues are not fixed and could change before the framework is made public and, more significantly, the Palestinian and Israeli leaders could signal their willingness to keep negotiating within the framework particulars but without formally accepting them all.
What has been leaked to date, especially to Israeli media by leaders of Jewish organisations who were briefed last week by the leader of the American negotiating team, Martin Indyk, suggests that with only one big exception, the framework contains little of major new significance.
The leaked reports say that the United States will support 85 per cent of Israeli Jewish settlers staying in their colonies built on occupied Palestinian lands that will become part of Israel, in return for land swaps; the United States will support Israeli troops staying in the Jordan Valley for a period of time while Washington also provides significant new security guarantees; the two parties would formally accept Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people and the Palestinian West Bank-Gaza state as the homeland of the Palestinians; compensation would be paid to Palestinians who fled or were evicted from their homes inside present day Israel, and also to Jews who fled or were forced out of Arab countries; the Palestinian state would have its capital in parts of Arab East Jerusalem that Israel has not yet colonised; and, reportedly, Palestinian refugees would return to the new West Bank-Gaza state but not to Israel itself.
All these are variations on themes that have been aired by both sides during decades of discussions and negotiations.
If the leaks are accurate, it seems the US continues its old habit of avoiding an even-handed attitude that is anchored in the international rule of law and UN resolutions, and instead sides with the Israelis on the two most important issues for both sides: the fate and right of return of the Palestinian refugees, and formal Palestinian acknowledgement and acceptance of Israel as the — take your pick — home, state or homeland of the Jewish people.
The formal unveiling of the American positions soon should clarify these and other points that nevertheless have the look, smell and feel of reheated old coffee dregs.
The one noteworthy new element is that the US is offering its own proposals for permanent status agreements that it feels both sides could accept.
Washington has long pushed both sides to make small gestures of good intentions while negotiating, like releasing prisoners or stopping military or media attacks.
These have always failed to get beyond the symbolic gesture stage. So for the US to put on the table its concept of a workable peace agreement is new and perhaps significant — depending on the details and fairness of the proposals, and how hard the US and others work to have them accepted by both sides.
From what has been leaked, though, my impression is that Kerry-Indyk are offering a new framework that perpetuates and continues to operate within the boundaries and the fatal constraints of the failed old frameworks that shaped American mediation since the 1970s.
This lame approach always failed for three key reasons: it never really touched the core issues of the conflict for both sides (ending refugeehood for Palestinians, and securing formal acceptance and legitimacy for Israelis in the region); it left the most difficult issues for a future date while concentrating on short-term confidence-building measures that always collapsed because the crucial core issues remained unresolved; and, it made the security and Zionist Jewish nationalist identity of Israel the anchors and guidelines for a final status agreement, with Palestinian rights and demands having to adjust to comply with Israeli dictates.
The short-term logistical problem that Kerry-Indyk face is that both the Israeli negotiators working for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinians under President Mahmoud Abbas face precarious domestic political situations that are worsened by steadily hardening rightwards drifts among both their publics.
Neither side can make the needed major concessions that Kerry-Indyk need to make their framework agreement plan succeed, such as: Netanyahu dropping or Abbas accepting the “Jewish homeland” demand that the Americans now accept and repeat often in public; or, Abbas dropping or Netanyahu accepting the principle of the Palestinian refugees’ right of return to their original homes, which obviously would be negotiated in practice by mutual consent.(http://jordantimes.com/historic-framework-or-reheated-coffee-dregs)
Palestine has every right to proclaim its status
Gulf News Editorial
There is a prevailing arrogance among Israeli authorities that smacks of high-handed bigotry, cronyism and sheer ignorance when it comes to dealing with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The latest example of this inexcusable intolerance comes from authorities who have blocked 70 patients from the Gaza Strip from entering into Israel. Why? Because the Gazans carried transfer documents that were marked “State of Palestine”.
This change in stationery replaces the previous “Palestinian Territories” carried on official documents. But this simple change in words is enough to bring Israel’s deep-seated and simmering bigotry to the fore. The documents were changed in mid-December to reflect the fact that a year ago, Palestinians had won recognition as an observer state from the United Nations General Assembly. Truth be told, Israeli proposals to expand the Jewish state into illegal colonies are only backed at the UN General Assembly by a coalition of the immoral forged by Tel Aviv with the US and the Marshall Islands! But the fact that Palestine has been rightfully granted observer status — and has the audacity to change its stationery — is enough to cause administrative palpitations in Israel’s bureaucracy.
Let us be clear — Palestine has every right to change its stationery to reflect UN observer status. Just as it has every right to continue its opposition to the unlawful occupation of its territories, to the destruction of its homes, the razing of its olive trees and the imprisonment of its sons and daughters.(http://gulfnews.com/opinions/editorials/palestine-has-every-right-to-proclaim-its-status-1.1290544)
Mohammed Assaf banned from World Cup in Brazil
By Staff
Arab Idol singer Mohammed Assaf says he has been banned from singing at the opening of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil and that the Colombian singer Shakira has decided to boycott the ceremony in protest at the ban.
Assaf, a Palestinian living in Gaza Strip, wrote on his social network page that he has just been notified about the decision cancelling an agreement with him to sing at the World Cup, which will kick off in June.
“I have been banned from singing at the World Cup opening in Brazil by some countries and parties which I do not know,” he said, according to the Saudi daily Sada and other regional newspapers.
“This decision has prompted Shakira to apologize from singing at the ceremony,” he added without giving further details. (http://www.emirates247.com/sports/football/mohammed-assaf-banned-from-world-cup-in-brazil-2014-02-13-1.538127
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Opinions
The Palestinians and Lebanon’s security
By Amjad Arar
Once again, the Lebanese Army’s intelligence services have stopped people on their way to blow their bodies up or to detonate car bombs in markets and mosques in this or that Lebanese area. More than once, it turns out that among those apprehended are Palestinians from the refugee camps. This is an unfortunate and dangerous phenomenon that indicates to the sickness in the consciousness of these people and their intellectual atmosphere. Should the Palestinians, whose land has been occupied for seven decades and show people are killed, arrested and harassed and their holy sites desecrated, forget about all this and fight somewhere else, sticking themselves into other people’s issues? The Palestinians have already gotten involved in Salafist Arab groups who have taken up camp in Nahr Al Bared and have killed members of the Lebanese army. This could have led to the destruction of the camp and a deep split in Lebanese-Palestinian relationship if it were not for wise and logical Lebanese and Palestinian figures. So that this split does not happen, all Palestinian factions who have respect for Lebanon and its sovereignty and appreciate its shelter of Palestinian refugees since the Nakba, should work with the Lebanese state to eradicate this despicable trend.
The Palestinians know very well from their long experience in Lebanon that there are parties and powers that thrive on causing rifts and seek to spark mutiny and civil wars. They know they should not contribute to granting these groups any excuse or give them fertile ground to thrive. Anyone who recalls history will know that these groups fought with Israel against the Lebanese and the Palestinians.
Whatever the circumstances, it is impossible for the compass to deviate from Palestine, neither from its own people or from honorable Arabs. Those who are willing to sell themselves or are brainwashed will remain individual cases and do not represent the Palestinian people in the homeland or abroad. These people’s compass has continued to point to Palestine and Jerusalem no matter how difficult things get or how many conspiracies transpire. We should remember that the person’s name who these brainwashed individuals carry left the jihad In his own country, Palestine to go and fight ‘jihad’ in Afghanistan. He was then killed at the hands of his own mujahedeen colleagues. And today, Afghanistan is the perfect example of a failed state.
Previously, Palestinian factions have made other mistakes in Arab countries, but they critiqued the experience and learned from it, shunning most of the behaviors and practices that were unbefitting of the Palestinian struggle. Hence, it is not wise for any of these negative experiences to be brought back, either from interfering in internal Egyptian affairs or from deviating the resistance and jihadist compass from Palestine and Jerusalem and pointing it to Lebanon and Syria or any other place for that matter. It has become clear that all of this ‘uncreative chaos’ is the works of those who want to extricate the Zionists from the equation of the historical conflict and create new conflict equations that would perpetuate the Zionist rape of Palestine. For the past three years, Israel has been one of the quietest and safest places in the world an since its inception at the start of the global conspiracy.
Back in Lebanon, the country that has sheltered a large number of Palestinian refugees, there is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of Palestinian factions, which is to expose any Palestinian who participates in acts that bring harm to Lebanon or Syria. They must cooperate with the Lebanese state and hold accountable anyone who breaches Lebanese law or impinges on the historical relations with the Lebanese people. Each person who has lost his way must be held responsible for his actions and should not reflect them on the Palestinians or their sacred cause. (http://www.alkhaleej.ae/studiesandopinions/page/5afab379-f77d-4a58-985c-e8af8af127ef)
The Judaization of Jerusalem is continuing from its heart to its outskirts
Al Quds Editorial
The process of Judaization of Jerusalem which began with the occupation in 1967 is continuing at the same rate, even with a plan to systematize the process. In the heart of the city, Arab home and property takeover is continuing in places were Palestinian Arabs have lived for hundreds of years.
Settlers break into Palestinian homes and courtyards, claiming them as their own even though the ownership papers for these properties show that they have not been sold or bought. These settler claims are nothing more than a way to steal these properties under a discriminatory judicial guise all while Israeli military dominance prevails.
From the economic perspective, the closure of the city to Palestinians who live around it but in the West bank has led to the semi-paralysis of commercial activity, which used to depend on the influx of people who would come to their city for business and to visit family in addition to pray at the Aqsa Mosque [Muslims] and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and other churches [for Christians].
For the past several years, Israeli authorities have focused their efforts on the peripheries of the city. It has established a ‘settlement belt’ around Jerusalem from all three sides adjacent to its borders with the West Bank. Thus, it has prevented any construction expansion for Palestinian Jerusalemites towards these sides, making Jerusalem closed off ‘pockets’. This is especially the case after the separation wall was built, completing East Jerusalem’s isolation completely.
Then, after it completed its encirclement of Jerusalem, Israel continued the Judaization process, focusing on various neighborhoods of the city to the north, west and south. The most vicious attacks were on the neighborhoods of Silwan and Ras Al Amoud, where settlement nuclei were set up in the midst of Palestinian built-up areas.
These settlement enclaves have and continue to cause friction in these two neighborhoods, friction which could have been avoided if Israeli authorities did not build them in the first place.
Settlement aspirations in Silwan’s Bustan quarter and the Torah gardens there still trouble the residents of this area, who are constantly under the threat of the demolition of their homes and the displacement of their children, women and men.
In Sheikh Jarrah over the years, setters have taken over many houses, kicking their Arab inhabitants out. The Palestinians’ very presence is being threatened in this neighborhood with the growing number of eviction orders and huge settlement projects being carried out, especially in the Mufti’s property, which was taken over by Israeli authorities for political excuses that have nothing to do with the law or with the rights of the Husseini family who have not stopped demanding them.
In this context, news has been circulating about a plan approved by the Jerusalem municipality to build a huge settlement project in the neighborhood in which a yeshiva and a synagogue will be built. The building will be nine stories high and will include a Jewish center over four dunams of land from the neighborhood, which is in a very strategic location and holds tremendous significance for Palestinians.
The situation in Jerusalem has reached the point of no return. The Judiazation process is not secret to anyone,. It is the responsibility of all Palestinian, Arab and international parties to intervene in order to preserve the Palestinian existence in Jerusalem and to also halt Israel’s settlement measures before it is too late and the opportunity is gone, if it hasn’t already passed us by. (Al Quds)
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