Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

Illegal Israeli Settlers and Soldiers Attempt to Divide Al-Aqsa Mosque, Raid Palestinian Cities,

Demands to Prosecute Israeli War Criminals in International Criminal Court

April 14, 2014

PCHR urges PA to become member of int'l criminal court in order to prosecute Israeli war criminals

[ 14/04/2014 - 07:05 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The Palestinian center for human rights (PCHR) called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to immediately join the Rome statute of the international criminal court in order to be able to prosecute Israeli war criminals.

In a press release on Sunday, the center said that joining the 16 international conventions would be a step in the right direction and must be achieved on the ground in order to protect the oppressed Palestinian people against Israel's violations.

The center also urged the PA to reject all pressures aimed at dissuading it from this step and hasten to join all international treaties that defend human rights in times of peace and war, especially the Rome statute.

It stressed that joining such treaties would achieve justice for the victimized Palestinians and contribute to ending the impunity which Israel's war criminals enjoy.

De facto president Mahmoud Abbas had decided earlier this month to join 16 international treaties and agreements defending human rights, but due to Zio-American pressures, he is still hesitant to go down that road.

Illegal Israeli soldiers raid and arrest Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, West Bank

[ 14/04/2014 - 11:17 AM ]

JENIN, (PIC)--

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have launched Monday morning an illegal raid campaign in occupied West Bank and Jerusalem (as they have no right to do so in Palestine), which led to the arrest of a number of Palestinians.

In Jenin, IOF illegally stormed Romana town and arrested the 26-year-old Zuhair Al-Ahmad Rashid after violently raiding and searching his parents' home.

Local sources confirmed that Israeli forces also broke into two Palestinian homes. No arrests were reported.

IOF soldiers have arrested two young men at a military checkpoint between Nablus and Jenin before transferring them to an unknown destination.

In Nablus, occupation forces arrested at dawn today the young man Amjad Bahloul after raiding and searching his home.

In Jerusalem, IOF soldiers arrested last night a number of  youths in Issawiya neighborhood and transferred them to investigation centers on suspicion of throwing Molotov cocktails at a disco in the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill.

Meanwhile, IOF arrested on Monday a Palestinian farmer in Beit Ummar town northern al-Khalil and confiscated an agricultural tractor.

Palestinian sources said that Israeli forces arrested Uday Hassan Alami after the confiscation of his agricultural tractor at the entrance of Beit Ummar town, and imposed a fine to retrieve it.

Occupation forces erected military checkpoints in Assida town, searching Palestinian passers-by and their cars.

Illegal Israeli occupation government closes Al-Ibrahimi Mosque before Muslim worshipers

[ 14/04/2014 - 09:44 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)--

The illegal Israeli occupation government decided to shut down the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil, Hebron, for two days to allow Jews celebrate Passover.

The Awkaf office in Al-Khalil said in a statement on Monday that the IOA informed the director of the mosque that it would be closed before Muslims on Wednesday and Thursday.

It said that Jews would be allowed free access into the mosque’s various areas on those two days to celebrate Passover.

The Awkaf statement said that Adhan or call for prayers would be also banned during those two days, describing the closure as a violation of the right of worship.

The IOA closes the Ibrahimi mosque for ten days each year according to Shamgar committee decisions. The committee was formed after the Ibrahimi mosque massacre in 1994. It divided the mosque between Muslims and Jews and ordered closure of the mosque before Muslims for ten days each year to celebrate Jewish feasts. 

Illegal Israeli settlers take hold over Rugby building in al-Khalil

[ 14/04/2014 - 08:27 AM ]

Al-KHALIL, (PIC)--

The war minister of the illegal Israeli occupation government, Moshe Ya’alon, gave an illegal permission to three Israeli families to break into the so-called Rugby building in al-Khalil city, as the court and the head of the Israeli Civil Administration have already ruled. 

Israel radio said that the building was evacuated for more than five years after the Supreme Court rejected the objection made by two Palestinian native citizens who said they are the house’s owners.

The Court ruled that the new Jewish purchasers are the building’s “legitimate owners” and that the settlement council in the West Bank welcomed the decision and wished for more professional and rapid actions in similar future situations.

Yariv Oppenheimer, current Secretary-General of Peace Now Movement said, “The allowance of settlers into the building is a pretext to bring negotiations to a halt,” charging that Ya’alon had “bowed to extremist right-wingers.” 

Baraka: Millions are eager to defend holy al-Aqsa Mosque

[ 14/04/2014 - 10:04 AM ]

BEIRUT, (PIC)--

Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Ali Baraka, warned the illegal Israeli occupation government against attacking the holy al-Aqsa Mosque. According to Baraka, any assault of this type would be considered an infringement on the Islamic creed.

Baraka hailed the masses stationing in al-Aqsa and occupied Jerusalem to save the holy mosque from the attacks organized by the illegal Israeli settlers and soldiers and from attempts to divide the Aqsa Mosque and to demolish it later on to pave the way for building the alleged Temple in its place.

Baraka said, during a celebration rally on the occasion of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi’s martyrdom anniversary and the Prisoner’s Day organized by Hamas’ Women Committee in Sidon, that any attack launched on al-Aqsa is an attack on Muslims. “Al-Aqsa makes part of who we are. Millions of Muslims are ready to defend al-Aqsa by all means,” he emphasized.

He hailed those who have been killed in the fight for liberation, adding that they had sacrificed their own life and blood for the sake of Palestine. “Those are the beacons that illuminate our liberation routes. Everybody should be up to the struggle that they have already initiated. We should go on along the same road and resist until every single stone of Palestine and al-Aqsa become ours and until all of our refugees are able to re-set their roots in their native soil,” Baraka elaborated.

According to Baraka the only way back to Palestine is via resistance. “Neither negotiations nor compromise can make such a dream come true. Israeli occupation is drawing much benefit from the negotiation process in the execution of its judaization and settlement scenarios. Ever since the Oslo agreement of 1993, rates of Jewish settlement have been growing, dramatically, almost six times, in the West Bank”.

Baraka renewed Hamas’s rejection of U.S Secretary of State John Kerry’s plan targeting liquidation of the Palestinian cause and eliminating the Palestinians’ right of return along with its tacit attempt to perpetuate Israeli occupation in Jerusalem and the West Bank. “We will never consent to establishing a Palestinian state on such a fragile basis and over a territory that is crammed with Jewish settlements.”

Hamas’s representative in Lebanon further called on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to immediately bring the negotiations and security coordination with Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) to a halt.

Baraka also urged the latter authorities to cling to resistance as the unique and only liberation tool. Baraka further called on PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas to hold a wide-scale meeting for leaders of different Palestinian factions so as to set up a unified national strategy promoting resistance and insisting on constants.

Baraka saluted the brave Palestinian prisoners and their families on the occasion of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Day. “Our sincere solidarity is the least we can do to such brave captives and their families so as to boost their self-esteem and support their stand in the face of their jailers.”

Baraka vowed the movement’s keenness to do whatever it takes to ensure the prisoners’ release as it has already done to so many others in Wafa al-Ahrar deal.

Baraka urged Lebanese official authorities and parties to set up serious tangible measures to alleviate the burden of their Palestinian brothers, improve the state of affairs in the refugee camps, and ensure the refugees’ civil and human rights.