Israeli occupation army attacks nonviolent protest near Bethlehem, deny Muslim worshippers access to Jerusalem

The Israeli army closes Jerusalem to worshippers

Friday September 14, 2007 16:38 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News ghassanb at imemc dot org

The Israeli occupation army stopped hundreds of Palestinian Muslim worshippers who were trying to enter the holy city of Jerusalem on the first Friday of Ramadan.

Thursday marked the start of this year's Ramadan which coincides with the beginning of the Jewish New Year celebrations of Rosh Hashanah. On Wednesday, in anticipation of trouble, the Israeli army ordered the complete closure of the West Bank and the Gaza strip.

Sources in Jerusalem reported that a huge number of Israeli troops and police were deployed in the Old City. Troops also set up checkpoints around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest Muslim site.

Only those over the age of 45 holding army permits were being allowed into the city.

Israeli occupation army attacks nonviolent protest near Bethlehem

Friday September 14, 2007 15:53 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News ghassanb at imemc dot org

Israeli occupation troops attacked a nonviolent demonstration in the village of Al Walaja, west of the southern west bank city of Bethlehem, on Friday afternoon.

Around 100 Palestinians, internationals and Israeli peace activists marched with local villagers in protest against the construction of an illegal road on village-owned land.

The road in question was illegally built by the Israeli occupation army several years ago. After the legality of the construction was questioned in an Israeli court, it was ruled illegal. This order was ignored by the Israeli army, who prevented any change from being to the road.

After marching to the site of the road, protestors took part in Friday prayers, after which a number of speeches were delivered.

Soon after, a massive number of Israeli occupation troops surrounded the protest, giving it five minutes to disperse. After the allotted time passed, soldiers attacked with batons and sound bombs, and tear gas. Several cases of gas inhalation and light wounds were reported.

An IMEMC correspondent said that the soldiers abused him and other local and international journalists.

 

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Note to Readers:

The Israeli settlements as well as the Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall in the Palestinian occupied territories have been built illegally on confiscated Palestinian lands. These represent a major violation of international law, Geneva Conventions, and they obstruct reaching a peaceful resolution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Israeli occupation forces abduct and kidnap Palestinians from their homes and at checkpoints, on daily basis. Most media refer to these abductions and kidnappings as arrests, which is inaccurate and not true as the Israeli occupation government has no jurisdiction over Palestinian citizens inside their own territories.

Further, when Israeli occupation forces kill Palestinian civilians, particularly when the victims are women and children, this should be referred to as an act of terrorism, and perpetrators should be described as terrorists.

Since the end of the second intifadha in 2005, not a single Israeli civilian was killed by Palestinian resistance organizations. However, Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces, almost on daily basis.

Note to Journalists:

Any journalist who does not describe this as terrorism is biased, unfair, not objective, and a participant in terrorizing the Palestinian people, so the Israeli occupation of Palestine can continue endlessly.

Note to Translators:

The Arabic definite article, Al (or its variant, El) should be written with a hyphen separating it from the noun it is associated with, for example Al-Aqsa. If a hyphen is not used, as in Al Aqsa, it confuses non-Arabic readers. They may think that it is an abbreviation of the name Albert, as many Americans do.

The Arabic definite article Al (or El) should be written as such, whether it is Shamsiyah or Qamariyah in pronunciation, simply because we are dealing with the written form of the language, not the spoken one. Using the Shamsiyah so many forms in writing is inaccurate and confusing to non-Arabic readers, to say the least.

Only standard (fasih) pronunciation of Arabic names should be used. Non-standard ('ammi)  should be avoided avoided. Example: Names like Abu Sunainah, Abu Rudainah, and Abu Shebak are written by some translators in the non-standard forms of Abu Snainah, Abu Rdainah, and Abu Shbak.

The standard pronunciation of the vowel at the end of names is (a), not (e), particularly if it is followed by (h), like in the cases of Haniyah and Rudainah, not Haniyeh and Rudaineh.

The standard pronunciation of vowels in the following names is (ai), not (ei) as written by  some translators: Hussain, not Hussein and Hassanain, not Hassanein. This is the same long vowel pronounced in the English words "rain" and "brain."

 

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