Illegal Israeli settlers establish new outpost near Tulkarem

Date: 01 / 07 / 2009  Time:  12:37
Tulkarem – Ma’an Exclusive –

Dozens of illegal Israeli settlers took over farmland in Kafr Al-Labad village, in the northern West Bank by erecting three tents that now play home to dozens of settlers, the town’s mayor said on Wednesday.

The area now under settler occupation is public property owned by the Islamic Waqf, or endowment, said Kafr Al-Labad Mayor Ziad Jab’iti, and is located outside the village's residential area.

“The municipal council along with local active organizations will resist settlers and try all means to prevent confiscation of this land,” the mayor asserted, appealing to the Palestinian Authority and other national organizations to join the fight.

He explained that settlers took advantage of the fact that the lands are in a remote area with little traffic. He also speculated that Israeli authorities would later remove the outpost in an attempt to show its compliance with international demands.

Israel to demolish more Jerusalem homes

Date: 01 / 07 / 2009  Time:  12:50
Jerusalem – Ma’an –

The Israeli occupation government Municipality of Jerusalem handed out demolition orders to seven new families in the Wadi Hilwa neighborhood of Silwan, south of the Old City on Wednesday

The families targeted in this round of demolition orders are: Ziad Abu Sneina, Muhammad Abbasi, Abdul-Kareem Abu Hadwan, Nasim Siyam, and three other families living in the same building.

The demolition orders came a day after municipal authorities demolished a house on the Mount of Olives. Earlier the same week the municipality, an Israeli institution that also governs occupied Palestinian areas, said it would freeze 70% of demolition orders. Most of the orders are issued on the grounds that the houses were built without hard-to-obtain building permits.