Illegal Israeli Settlers Install New Outpost Near Hebron, Beat Palestinian Shepherd

Illegal Settlers Install New Outpost Near Hebron

Friday February 03, 2012 21:13 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

A group of fundamentalist illegal Israeli settlers installed on Friday a new illegal settlement outpost, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, while another group of armed settlers invaded areas in Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron.

Rateb Jabbour, coordinator of the National Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, reported that approximately 250 settlers, accompanied by Israeli Border Police officers, invaded that Al-Carmel village, and installed six new caravans in Um Ash-Shuqhan area, near the Maoun illegal outpost that was installed on privately-owned Palestinian lands.

In related news, Yousef Abu Maria, media spokesperson of the National Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar, stated that approximately 150 settlers attacked Palestinian farmlands in Za’ta area, east of Beit Ummar, and blocked the Jerusalem-Hebron road in front of Palestinian traffic.

Abdul-Hadi Hantash, a Palestinian expert of Maps and Settlements that recent escalation is part of a larger plan that aims at installing more outposts, and expanding existing one, by stealing more Palestinian lands.

Hantash added that settlers are stealing Palestinian lands in Um Ash-Shuqhan area, and installing new outposts, so that they can create a geographical contiguity by linking the new outposts with the settlements of Ma’oun, Karmiel, Havat Yair, Avigayil, and Susyia. All are illegal outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian lands.

The official further stated that Israeli is implementing an agenda that aims at isolating the Palestinians in Hebron by the illegal Annexation Wall and the chain of settlements and outposts built on the hills of the Hebron district.

“Israel wants to force the Palestinians out of their homes and lands, wants them to leave”, Hantash added, “But the residents are determined to remain steadfast in their homes, lands”.

Illegal Israeli settlers beat Palestinian shepherd

Saturday February 04, 2012 12:20 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

A group of illegal Israeli settlers from the Mehola settlement in the Jordan Valley, in the northeastern part of the West Bank, approached a Palestinian shepherd who was tending his sheep and beat him with sticks and clubs on Friday.

Medical sources reported that 20-year old Mahdi Daraghma was admitted to the Jenin hospital with moderate injuries after he was severely beaten by a group of Israeli settlers.

The settlement of Mehola is made up of a residential and an agricultural section, as well as a number of packaging plants in which Israeli settlement companies like Arava and Carmel prepare products for export.

According to a 2011 report by CorporateOccupation, Palestinians from nearby villages are employed in the settlement and exploited: “Workers are paid from 60-80 shekels per day, half the Israeli minimum wage, and have no contracts or health insurance. There have been documented incidents of employers in Mehola falsifying wage slips in order to appear to be paying proper wages.”

The settlement is surrounded by an electrified fence, separating it from the Palestinian villages on whose land the settlement is constructed.

Palestinian shepherds like Daraghma are frequently attacked by Israeli settlers while herding sheep through isolated fields near illegal Israeli settlements.

In a recent incident in the same area, a group of Israeli settlers abducted a 60-year old shepherd and stole his sheep.

Israeli settler attacks against Palestinian civilians rose significantly in the last few months of 2011, including a mob attack on Palestinians and international supporters near Anatot in September, and deadly attacks in both November and December.

PCHR Weekly Report: 5 wounded, 14 abducted in 56 Israeli invasions this week

Friday February 03, 2012 10:52 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 26 Jan. – 01 Feb. 2012, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights found that a Palestinian civilian was wounded by Israeli forces in Gaza City. In the West Bank, 4 Palestinian civilians, including two cameramen, were wounded.

In addition, Israeli forces partially damaged a Palestinian house in Gaza City.

Israeli attacks in the West Bank:

Israeli forces conducted 56 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they abducted 12 Palestinians, including 3 children, in the West Bank.

Israeli soldiers abducted 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, at various checkpoints in the West Bank.

On 05 January 2012, Israeli forces moved into al-‘Eizariya village, east of occupied Jerusalem. They demolished a 100-square-meter workshop of stone cutting belonging to Sameer Mohammed Taqatqa. They destroyed stones whose value is 30,000 ILS, and confiscated stones whose value is 95,000 ILS. Israeli forces demolished also a 30-square-meter workshop of stone cutting belonging to Mohammed ‘Ayad. They destroyed stones whose value is 15,000 ILS. Additionally, Israeli forces demolished a 200-square-meter shop of junks belonging to Majed Abu Ghalia, a 30-square-meter fence and parking yard belonging to Ibrahim Abu Dhaim.

On 10 January 2012, Israeli forces razed large areas of Palestinian land in the southeastern part of al-‘Eissawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem, to establish a biblical garden. According to local sources, Israeli forces confiscated hundreds of dunums of land in al-‘Eissawiya and al-Tour villages to establish a biblical garden. By the establishment of the garden, al-‘Eissawiya village would be completely isolated by Israeli settlements.

Rasem Ubeidat, a Palestinian writer and journalist from east Jerusalem, headed to "al-Maskoubeya" interrogation center in Jerusalem to appear before the Israeli intelligence service which delivered Ubeidat an order issued by the Shabak Israel Security Agency presevnting him from having access to the West Bank.

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip:

In the Gaza Strip, on 31 January 2012, Israeli forces stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of Shujaiya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, opened fire at Munther Rashad Saleh al-Nakhala, 44, wounding him by a bullet to the left foot. He was hunting birds with friends with his near the building of the Energy Authority. He was nearly 500 meters from the border.

On 26 January 2012, Israeli forces stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip opened fire at farms and residential areas in the east of Abasan village, east of Khan Yunis. Palestinian farmers were forced to flee their farms. Israeli forces continued the sporadic firing for approximately one hour. Neither casualties nor damage to property were reported.

On 29 January 2012, Israeli forces positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of al-Shujaiya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City fired two artillery shells at Palestinian houses. One of the shells landed on a house belonging to Abdul Ra'ouf Hamed Mardi Hajjaj, 27. The shell opened a hole in the sealing of the kitchen in Hajjaj's house and caused slight damages to the contents of the house. The other shell landed in a farm belonging to Hamed Mardi Hajjaj, 74.

Also in the Gaza Strip, on 29 January 2012, Israeli forces, backed by military vehicles and apaches, moved into Gaza International Airport, in the far southeast of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip amid indiscriminate firing. Israeli forces abducted Hajjaj Yousif Ehmeid al-Soufi, 21, who is a university student and Ahmed Hussein Awad Abu Athra, 20, who is a member of the Palestinian National Security Service. Al-Soufi and Abu Athra are from al-Shouka village in the east of Rafah.

Israeli forces also fired two artillery shells and opened fire from apaches at open areas in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli settlement activities:

Israeli forces have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

On 27 January 2012, Israeli forces distributed a military order to close a dirt road leading to four Palestinian communities in the south of Yatta, in the far south of Hebron. According to data available to PCHR, Israeli forces distributed the said military order to a number of Palestinians in Kherbat Jebna. The order requires the closure of the said dust road which is linked with the settlement road no. 317 and which leads to four Palestinian communities in Kherbat Bir al-Ad, Kherbat Jebna, Kherbat al-Markaz and Kherbat Halawa. Approximately 320 Palestinians who mainly depend on grazing sheep and goats live in these four communities. It should be noted that the population in the four affected communities live in caves and cottages. They were subjected before to forcible transfer by Israeli forces under the pretext that they are present in zones used by the Israeli army for training purposes. In addition, the population in the area was repeatedly subjected to attacks by the Israeli settlers who seek to have control over their lands. The closure of the said road is aimed at transferring the local population from the affected area in order to expand 11 surrounding Israeli outputs.

Also on 27 January 2012, Israeli forces delivered two notices requiring Palestinians to stop construction works in two houses in al-Ma'adsara village, south of Bethlehem, and threatened the owners of these houses under the pretext of lack of construction licenses. The two houses belong to Amjad Khaled Ibrahim Zawahra and Suleiman Mohammed Hussein Zawahra.

On Sunday, 29 January 2012, Israeli forces moved into Hares village, north of Salfit. They headed to five Palestinian houses and delivered 4 Palestinians notices informing them of Israeli forces's intention to demolish their houses.

On 01 February 2012, Myassar Abdul Majid Ibrahim, 61, from Surra village, southwest of Nablus, sustained wounds when three Israeli settlers, near the crossroads near "Yitzhar" settlement, stoned the car in which she was travelling. Myassar sustained wounds as a result in her forehead and she bled. She was transferred to Rafidia Public Hospital for medical treatment. It was founded out that Myassar sustained laceration in the forehead and suffered from hemorrhage in the brain.

Israeli Annexation Wall:

In the West Bank, during the reporting period, Israeli forces used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, Muhib Mohammed Asaad al-Barghouthi, 46, photographer of al-Hayat al-Jadida Newspaper, sustained wounds by two bullets to the feet. Al- Barghouthi was transferred to Palestine Medical Compound in Ramallah for treatment.

Also Mohammed Ateya al-Tamimi, cameraman of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlement in Nabi Saleh village, sustained wounds by a tear gas canister to the right foot. A third Palestinian demonstrator also sustained wounds by a bullet to the right leg. PCHR fieldworker was unable to get the personal information of the third wounded person as he came from another village and he was not transferred to any hospital or medical center for treatment.

On 31 January, Imad Ahed Khalil Abu Hashem, 21, sustained shrapnel wounds by a sound bomb when Israeli forces used excessive force against a peaceful demonstration in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. Additionally, dozens of Palestinian civilians and human rights defenders participating in peaceful demonstrations suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Recommendations to the international community:

Due to the number and severity of Israeli human rights violations this week, the PCHR made several recommendations to the international community. Among these were a recommendation that the international community pressure Israel to lift the severe restrictions imposed by the Israeli government and its occupation forces on access for international organizations to the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The PCHR reiterates that any political settlement not based on international human rights law and humanitarian law cannot lead to a peaceful and just solution of the Palestinian question. Rather, such an arrangement can only lead to further suffering and instability in the region. Any peace process or agreement must be based on respect for international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law.

For the full text of the report, click on the link below:

http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_...d=183

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