Nablus: Palestinian teenager in critical condition after being shot by settler

Date: 27 / 04 / 2009  Time:  16:18
Nablus – Ma’an –

An illegal Israeli settler shot and critically a Palestinian teenager from the northern West Bank village of Madama, south of Nablus, on Monday.

According to Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official in charge of settlement-related issues, an Israeli from the illegal settlement of Yizhar, deliberately fired at 18-year-old Muhammad Na’im Faraj, hitting him in the back.

Faraj was transferred to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, where medical officials said he was in critical condition.

Daghlas told Ma’an that Faraj and other members of his family were tending their land near the illegal settlement when a settler stepped out of his car and shot at him.

Peaceful demonstrators force settlers to re-route planned road near Hebron

Date: 27 / 04 / 2009  Time:  21:02
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Palestinian and international peace activists managed to convince illegal Israeli settlers to re-route a road around a West Bank village on Sunday, a house from demolition.

By nonviolently blocking construction vehicles on their way to build a road in the village of Um Al-Khair, the protesters forced Israelis from the illegal settlement of Karmel to change the route of the planned road, according to fieldworkers with the organization Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT).

The demonstrators confronted the illegal Israeli settlers, soldiers, and border police as work began at 7am on Sunday. Israeli occupation soldiers allowed the road work to continue, despite a pending legal complaint filed by the village in an Israeli court. One older Palestinian man who was sitting in front of earth-moving equipment was accidentally struck by stones which became dislodged by the work.

Survey markers placed the previous week in the village indicated that construction of the road would include the demolition of a Palestinian home and several agricultural structures, according to CPT. As now marked, the revised route will include the annexation of a large area of Palestinian land by the settlement, but will not include demolition of the home. A court decision on construction of the road is expected within ten days.

Representatives of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) were also present during the work because the villagers have refugee status. Residents of the Bedouin village bought the land the on which the community now stands, including the land being used for construction of the settler road, 50 years ago. They were forced to move the village from its original location near Arad in 1948, at the creation of Israel.

Recent expansion of Karmel has included the construction of twelve double houses around the perimeter of the settlement. These are surrounded by a fence and a military road, which encroaches onto Palestinian land. The new road as proposed will extend the settlement farther into Um Al-Khair.

Fayyad government: Expansion of Ma'ale Adumim could cause 'explosion'

Date: 27 / 04 / 2009  Time:  20:27
Ramallah – Ma’an –

The Palestinian caretaker cabinet condemned a proposed expansion of the illegal Israeli West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim on Monday as a step that could cause the region to “explode.”

The cabinet, led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, issued a declaration saying that the proposal would sever the West Bank into two sections, denying any possibility of the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.

The statement was in reference to a decision by a special committee of the Israeli Interior Ministry, which approved a merger between Ma’ale Adumim and the much smaller settlement of Qedar. Under the plan, 12,000 dunums of land in between the two settlements would be seized and the entire area, a swath of the central West Bank, would be surrounded by the separation wall.

The cabinet called on the international community and the US in particular to pressure Israel to stop imposing “facts on the ground,” which threaten a potential political resolution to the Middle East conflict.

The statement also referred to the Hamas-Fatah talks in Cairo, and said that the current meetings may be the last chance for reconciliation.

Fayyad’s cabinet also vowed to press forward with preparations to bring Pope Benedict XVI to Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, a plan Israeli authorities say is prohibited because of the camp’s proximity to the separation wall.

"The Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, symbolizes the right of return and holds a message of peace, brotherhood, and justice,” the statement said.

The pontiff is visiting Jordan, the West Bank and Israel beginning on 11 May.

France 'concerned' at expansion of West Bank illegal Israeli settlement

Date: 27 / 04 / 2009  Time:  15:27

Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

France expressed "great concern" at a proposed Israeli plan to expand Ma’ale Adumim, the 30,000-resident illegal Israeli settlement in the heart of the occupied West Bank, AFP reported.

"The plans to expand the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim are particularly concerning in that they threaten the creation of a viable Palestinian state, without which there can be no peace in the Middle East or lasting security for Israel," said the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eric Chevallier, according to AFP.

On Sunday it was revealed that a special committee of the Israeli housing ministry approved a proposal to merge Ma’ale Adumim with the much smaller nearby settlement of Qedar, seizing 12,000 dunums of land in between the two.