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Israel lifts age restriction for al-Aqsa prayers after Amman meetings

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A Palestinian woman in front of the al-Aqsa Mosque during Friday prayer in annexed East Jerusalem on November 07, 2014. Anadolu / Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu

A Palestinian woman in front of the as-Sakhra Mosque (in Al-Aqsa compound) during Friday prayer in annexed East Jerusalem on November 07, 2014. Anadolu / Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu

by Al-Akhbar

Palestinians of all ages will be allowed to perform prayers Friday at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in annexed East Jerusalem for the first time in months, an Israeli police spokesman announced, a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry said “firm commitments” have been made during the Amman meetings to maintain the status quo at the compound.

“No age limit on the Temple Mount, we’re hoping things will be calm and quiet today,” spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP, using the Zionist term for the al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.

“Extra police units were deployed in Jerusalem this morning to prevent any incidents in and around the Old City,” he added.

Israeli forces have long restricted Palestinians’ access to the al-Aqsa compound based on age and gender, but in the past months they have further prevented Muslim worshipers from entering the mosque while facilitating the entrance for Zionist extremists.

Rosenfeld linked the decision to lift age restrictions to talks in Jordan on Thursday after which Kerry said steps were agreed between King Abdullah II and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lower tensions at the al-Aqsa mosque compound.

“Firm commitments” were made to maintain the status quo at the compound, Kerry said at a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, asserting that both Israel and Jordan agreed to take steps to “de-escalate the situation” in Jerusalem and “restore confidence.”

“We are not going to lay out each practical step. It is more important they be done in a quiet and effective way,” Kerry stated, adding that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who joined in over the phone, “promised” to encourage resumption of collapsed Palestinian-Israeli talks.

“It is clear to me that they are serious about working on the effort to create de-escalation and to take steps to instil confidence that the status quo will be upheld,” he stated.

The US diplomat also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday, and they, according to Kerry, “discussed constructive steps, real steps, not rhetoric, that people can take in order to de-escalate the situation.”

Tensions have been running high in the occupied West Bank, annexed East Jerusalem and other regions in Occupied Palestine, where in recent weeks Israeli forces shot and killed six Palestinians.

Israeli authorities have also allowed Zionist settlers to take over homes in Palestinian neighborhoods, have announced plans to build thousands of settlements strictly for Israeli settlers in the city while ignoring Palestinian residents, and have generally looked the other way at rising violence by Zionist settlers against Palestinians across the city.

The anger has been further provoked by the Israeli authorities’ decision to hold a vote on splitting the al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third holiest site, despite the existence of a Jewish prayer area at the Western Wall immediately next door.

Jordan’s King called for Israel Thursday “to put an end to its unilateral action and repeated attacks against holy sites in Jerusalem, especially those targeting the al-Aqsa mosque compound,” his palace said.

Recent clashes between Israeli Occupation Forces and Palestinians protesting the storming of al-Aqsa by several far-right Israeli members of the Knesset as well as groups of Zionist settlers, prompted Jordan last week to recall its ambassador to Israel “in protest at Israel’s escalation” and move to file a UN complaint.

Since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, an agreement with Jordan has maintained that Jewish prayer be allowed at the Western Wall plaza – built on the site of a Palestinian neighborhood of 800 that was destroyed immediately following the conquest – but not inside the al-Aqsa mosque compound itself.

In a letter to the UN Security Council sent on Wednesday, Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour demanded international intervention over Al-Aqsa, warning tensions could “spiral out of control”.

Furthermore, in a move likely to further heighten tensions around al-Aqsa, Israel’s Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said late Wednesday that Israel will “increase the supervision of people entering the [al-Aqsa] compound” by reintroducing metal detectors and facial-recognition technology that were removed from the compound’s entrances in 2000.

In September 2000, a visit to al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon triggered what later became known as the “Second Intifada,” a popular uprising against Israel’s decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Six-Day War. It later annexed the city of Jerusalem in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Zionist state – a move never recognized by the international community.

(AFP, Anadolu, Al-Akhbar, Reuters)

Israeli settlers ‘set fire’ to West Bank mosque

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ARCHIVE PHOTO: Palestinians look at burnt tires inside a mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus September 5, 2011 (Reuters / Abed Omar Qusini)

ARCHIVE PHOTO: Palestinians look at burnt tires inside a mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus September 5, 2011 (Reuters / Abed Omar Qusini)

by RT

Israeli settlers have overnight set on fire a mosque near the West Bank town of Ramallah, according to Palestinian security officials.

“The settlers set fire to the whole of the first floor of the mosque” in the village of Al-Mughayir, near the Shilo Jewish settlement, the officials said, as cited by AFP.

A group of Palestinian worshippers who came to the mosque for their morning prayer found the building in flames, Ma’an news agency reports, as cited by the Jerusalem Post.

The worshippers reportedly managed to extinguish the fire. The first floor of the mosque has been severely damaged.

“A call was received in the morning hours about an act of arson against a mosque in the village of Al-Maghir,” Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, according to Ynetnews. “Police forces…together with the IDF have yet to enter the village in order to open the investigation due to riots in the area.”

Palestinian Mayor Faraj al-Naasan said he had no doubt that Jewish settlers were responsible for the attack, citing a previous settler raid against another mosque in the village two years ago and frequent settler attacks against vehicles and olive groves, AP reported.

“Only Jewish settlers would do this,” al-Naasan said.

Palestinians have filed a complaint with the West Bank’s IDF civil authority, the Times of Israel reports.

Another mosque was torched in the same village two years ago.

The arson attacks by hardline Jewish settlers are often accompanied by a graffiti reading “price tag,” but this was not the case in the latest incident, according to AFP citing Palestinian officials.

An ancient synagogue was also attacked overnight Wednesday, the Haaretz reports. It says the incident happened in Shfaram, an Arab community in northern Israel, where a fire bomb was thrown at the Jewish temple. No one was hurt in the incident, but some damage was done to the building, according to police.

Tensions have lately been high between the Israelis and the Palestinians over disrupted access to another place of worship – the landmark Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

An Israeli border policeman runs during clashes with Palestinian stone throwers following a protest against what organizers say are recent visits by Jewish activists to al-Aqsa mosque, at Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 7, 2014 (Reuters / Ammar Awad)

Israeli police have recently repeatedly closed the mosque, triggering an angry outcry from Palestinians.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has warned Israeli to stay away from Al-Aqsa and said has accused Israel of “leading the region and the world to a destructive religious war.”

On Tuesday, a Palestinian man was shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank, trying to disperse a rioting Palestinian crowd.

On Monday, an Israeli woman and an IDF soldier were stabbed, allegedly by Palestinians, in two separate attacks.

Israeli army issues arrest warrant against a 2 year old child

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Hamza Hatem Zeidani - Silwanic

Hamza Hatem Zeidani – Silwanic

by Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic), in occupied East Jerusalem, has reported that the Israeli army issued an arrest warrant against a two-year-old child, and that the army told the family he is “wanted” for questioning by the security forces.

The family said that an Israeli security officer, accompanied by several soldiers, stormed their home, and told them they have an arrest warrant for their child, Hamza Hatem Zeidani, and that they asked the soldiers, whether they realize they are after a 2-year-old child.

The soldiers actually confirmed they are coming after the child, and the family told them he lives in the house next door, but the soldiers did not go there to arrest him.

Earlier on Wednesday, the soldiers kidnapped four Palestinians from Silwan and the Suwwana neighborhood, after searching and ransacking their home.

Silwanic said the soldiers kidnapped Ra’ed Ra’fat Abu Gharbiyya, 17, Ahmad Mansour Abu Gharbiyya, 17, from Suwwana neighborhood, and Mohammad Ziad Zeidani, 16, and Kayed Yahia Rajabi, 19, from the al-Bustan neighborhood.

Members of the Zeidani family said the soldiers confiscated three computers from their home when they kidnapped their son Mohammad.

US Commitment to Terror, Expansionism, Maintains Israel’s Illegal Wall

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by Robert Barsocchini

As seen in the below graphic from the Washington Post, essentially every country recognizes the State of Palestine, except for Western Europe and some of the places it has conquered, such as North America, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as some US “partners” that “wouldn’t want to ruffle Washington’s feathers”, including “South Pacific island nations like Kiribati and Nauru” (WaPo).

palestine-Recognition

The US has for decades used terrorism to singularly prevent Palestine from becoming a full UN member state. Likewise, without the US providing the muscle and money, Israel would not be able to continue, in defiance of the world, to occupy, colonize, ethnically cleanse, and commit terrorism and massacres against Palestine.

Without US muscle backing its terror and expansionism, Israel, despite being the strongest force in the Mid East and in possession of the “world’s best” air force and a large, rogue nuclear arsenal, would have no choice but to decolonize Palestine and remain within its own universally recognized borders, which are those that existed before June, 1967, when Israel illegally invaded and began colonizing and ethnically cleansing areas beyond those lines.

For approximately 40 years, the US has vetoed, generally alone (aside from Israel), every UN resolution demanding that Israel comply with this worldwide legal, democratic consensus.  The vote is typically 165 countries against the US and Israel, and sometimes five or six other countries (European-conquered lands and some tiny islands such as Micronesia).

Obama has continued the reign of terror and expansion, specifically rejecting, at the UN, the demand for Israel to cease even future settlement activities, let alone abandon its current illegal settlements, all war crimes. This particular resolution was brought at the 15 member Security Council, and received 100% approval aside from Obama’s isolated vote of rejection, which is enforceable only due to the US dedication to terrorism and democracy-prevention.

On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Palestinians have tried to call attention to the wall that still exists, the illegal US-backed wall that Israel is building and using as one of its means of illegally annexing Palestinian territory. Dr. Noam Chomsky, for one, has pointed out that if the wall were about security and not illegal expansionism, it could simply be made gigantic and utterly impenetrable, and be put on Israel’s legal border, which countries are allowed to do.

Palestinians break through illegal Israeli annexation wall. Photo: RT

Dr. Norman Finkelstein has suggested that Palestinians physically break down the wall en masse, as a non-violent solution, since the highest court in the world ruled that the wall is illegal and must be deconstructed, but the USA is preventing UN member states from carrying out the legally required and universally supported task.

Since the recent US/Israeli massacre against Palestine, Israel has continued its ongoing cease-fire violations, and has also announced or built thousands of new illegal settlement units in Palestine, and has illegally stolen over 4,000 more acres of Palestine (see here and here).

Note that although the Washington Post published the above map, a chief reason that the US is able to continue to illegally back Israel, and even increase illegal support for Israel as Obama has done (in defiance of the US population), is that US media never provides the full context of the situation, as Professor Edward Said pointed out (as noted by Jews for Justice in the Middle East):

It is simply extraordinary and without precedent that Israel’s history, its record — from the fact that it..is a state built on conquest, that it has invaded surrounding countries, bombed and destroyed at will, to the fact that it currently occupies Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian territory against international law — is simply never cited, never subjected to scrutiny in the U.S. media or in official discourse…

Edward Said in “The Progressive.” May 30, 1996

Given the full and accurate picture of how Israel has come into existence and what it does, already dwindling US public support for Israel (much of which, however, is based on religious fundamentalism) would certainly decrease, as public support for US atrocities generally decreases as information about them increases.

Robert Barsocchini is a researcher focusing on global force dynamics.  He also writes professionally for the film industry. Here is his blog.  Also see his free e-book, Whatever it Takes – Hillary Clinton’s Record of Support for War and other Depravities. Click here to follow Robert and his UK-based colleague, Dean Robinson, on Twitter.

Israel to confiscate 3,000 acres of Palestinian village land near Jerusalem

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MIDEAST PALESTINIAN BEIT IKSA

Jerusalem/Ma’an: Locals said on Saturday that Israeli authorities delivered orders to the village of Beit Iksa north of Jerusalem indicating the confiscation of 12,852 dunums (3,176 acres) of Palestinian land.

Locals told Ma’an that soldiers deployed at the military checkpoint at the entrance to the village delivered confiscation orders signed by the Israeli military commander in the West Bank, Nitzan Alon, that gave them until Dec. 31, 2017 to remain on their land.

Villagers said that soldiers informed them that an official from the Israeli military liaison would arrive on Monday to specify which lands that would be confiscated, adding that the lands confiscated would be used for “military purposes.”

Israeli officials, however, denied the reports late Sunday.

A spokeswoman of COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry unit in charge of civil administration in the Palestinian territories, told Ma’an that there were only Israeli military orders to renew a confiscation order for 163 dunams (41 acres) of land in Beit Iksa north of Jerusalem.

“Around 163 dunams were temporarily confiscated in 2004 for military purposes,” the spokeswoman said.

“The new orders mean that the area will be used for military purposes until 2017,” she added.

Although located immediately next to Jerusalem, the village’s lands have been progressively confiscated and the village is surrounded on all sides by the Israeli separation wall. Villagers can no longer travel to Jerusalem without permits, and Palestinians not resident in Beit Iksa cannot enter the single Israeli checkpoint that allows access to the village.

Ninety-three percent of the village is under full Israeli military control, and a majority of the total land of the village falls in areas outside of the separation wall, meaning they have been de facto confiscated, including about 1,500 dunums (371 acres) where Jewish-only settlements have been built.

The head of the Beit Iksa village council Saada al-Khatib told Ma’an that according to the order and the maps that soldiers had shown them Saturday, the lands that would be confiscated are between parcels 7 and 8 and include Haraeq al-Arab, Thahr Biddu, Numus, and Khatab areas around the village.

Al-Khatib added that the Israeli authorities claim that the confiscation order has been under way since 2012, and that the new order issued on Saturday only emphasizes the old order.

The order would prevent dozens of farmers from reaching their lands, he said, calling upon Palestinian ministries and national institutions to support the village of Beit Iksa and its neighbors.

He added that the order came after the Israeli municipality announced the approval of 244 housing units to be built in the Ramot settlement, which was previously built on lands confiscated from the settlement.

Al-Khatib warned that the land confiscation orders being issued to many villages were an attempt to carry out the “Judaization” of Beit Iksa after sealing the village shut and surrounding it with a checkpoint and the separation wall, turning it into an 2,500-dunum prison.

Critics slam U.S Military's 'Disturbing' praise for Israel's Gaza offensive

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‘It is very disturbing and shameful that U.S. military commanders believe that what Israel did in Gaza is something to be applauded,’ says Ramah Kudaimi of US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

A Palestinian child sits above the ruins of his ruined home, and looks at thousands of homes destroyed because of the war on Gaza. © 2014 Pacific Press

A Palestinian child sits above the ruins of his ruined home, and looks at thousands of homes destroyed because of the war on Gaza. © 2014 Pacific Press

by Common Dreams

Critics say it is “shameful” that a high-ranking U.S. military official suggested the Pentagon can learn lessons from Israel’s 50-day attack on Gaza this summer.

According the Jerusalem Post, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey made statements Thursday praising the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for taking “extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties” during Operation Protective Edge.

Dempsey told an audience at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs: “We sent a team of senior officers and non-commissioned officers over to work with the IDF to get the lessons from that particular operation in Gaza.” He referred to the group of officers as the “lessons learned team.”

But Ramah Kudaimi of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation said Israel’s tactics should not be replicated.

“It is very disturbing and shameful that U.S. military commanders believe that what Israel did in Gaza is something to be applauded,” Kudaimi told Common Dreams. “Five hundred dead children does not seem to be evidence that Israel was trying to not kill civilians. The seven-year siege on Gaza is not a policy to avoid civilian suffering.”

Israel’s recent seven-week military assault on Gaza killed at least 2,194 Palestinians, at least 75 percent of them civilians and over 500 of them children.

“At least 80 percent of the 100,000 Palestinian homes damaged or destroyed were refugee homes,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency reports.

The offensive damaged or destroyed over half of Gaza’s hospitals and health centers at a time when more than 11,000 were wounded, a UNRWA and World Health Organization joint investigation found.

Israel struck six UN schools sheltering Palestinians, including in cases where exact coordinates of the shelters were formally submitted by UNRWA to the Isreali military. These strikes alone killed at least 47 people and wounded hundreds.

Furthermore, Israel has been accused of potential war crimes by Amnesty International and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

“It is very despicable that the U.S. continues to white-wash Israeli crimes while funding them through military aid,” said Kudaimi. “Dempsey’s statements are not shocking. Anyone who follows U.S. military policy, knows they too have problematic definitions of protecting civilians.”

International Criminal Court (ICC): Israel committed 'War Crimes' but it's not our problem

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According to lawyers, the court’s decision confirms that Israel has a ‘special status’ in regards to international law.

Israeli naval vessels approach one of the boats in the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" in the Mediterranean Sea in 2010. (Photo: Reuters)

Israeli naval vessels approach one of the boats in the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” in the Mediterranean Sea in 2010. (Photo: Reuters)

by Telesur

International Criminal Court (ICC) lawyers believe that Israel is guilty of “war crimes” for the raid on an aid ship bound for Gaza in 2010 that killed nine Turkish activists. However, they have also decided that the case does not meet their criteria for prosecution, according to court papers seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

On May 31, 2010, the Israeli military forcefully boarded six civilian ships from the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” that were traveling from Turkey to deliver humanitarian aid and construction materials to the besieged region. The army boarded the ships in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea.

The activists on board say they did not put up a fight, however the Israeli army insists that they were met with resistance – which led to several activists being killed, including eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin on the Mavi Marmara boat.

The ICC does not have jurisdiction over crimes committed in either Turkey, where most the boats were registered, or Israel, since neither are members of the ICC. However, the Mavi Marmara was registered to the Comoros Islands, which is a member, making the crimes on board eligible for ICC investigation.

“The information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction have been committed in the context of interception and takeover of the Mavi Marmara by IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers on 31 May 2010,” read the papers.

But the papers also added that prosecutors had decided the crimes “were not of sufficient gravity to fall under the court’s jurisdiction,” reported Reuters. Their evidence and criteria for making this decision however, remained vague.

“Not having collected evidence itself, the Office’s analysis in this report must therefore not be considered to be the result of an investigation,” the paper read.

However, according to the ICC website, considering individuals guilty of war crimes does make them eligible to be tried under the ICC.

“The mandate of the Court is to try individuals rather than States, and to hold such persons accountable for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely the crime of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression…”

The Indian Ocean State, another ICC member, referred the raid to court, which obligated the ICC to begin preliminary examinations into the matter, according to their mandate.

“The Prosecutor’s decision marks the first time a State referral by an ICC States Party has ever been rejected by … Prosecutor without even initiating an investigation,” said lawyers Rodney Dixon and Geoffrey Nice in a statement.

“It confirms the view expressed by politicians, civil society organizations, NGOs and commentators from many quarters that Israel has a ‘special status,'” they added.

The report comes the same day that Bulent Yildirim, president of the Turkish NGO Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) – one of the NGOs who organized the flotilla – praised the ICC, expecting that they would announce on Thursday that Israel is guilty of “war crimes.”

The ICC’s final decision is likely to anger other Turkish activists, but also Ankara who accused Israel of mass murder after the IDF attacked the flotilla.

Palestinians call for 'Day of Rage' against Israeli aggressions at al-Aqsa

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Palestinians clean up debris inside the al-Aqsa Mosque, on November 5, 2014 following clashes between Israeli Occupation Forces and Palestinians. AFP / Ahmad Gharabli

Palestinians clean up debris inside the al-Aqsa Mosque, on November 5, 2014 following clashes between Israeli Occupation Forces and Palestinians. AFP / Ahmad Gharabli

by Al-Akhbar

Palestinian groups once again called for a “Day of Rage” on Friday in solidarity with Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa mosque, as Israeli authorities announced late Thursday they would prevent Palestinian men under 35 from entering the al-Aqsa compound for Friday prayers.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad issued separate statements on Thursday calling on Palestinians to take to the streets following Friday prayers “in solidarity with the al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas called on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to take to the streets on Friday to “show support to occupied Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque.”

The group, in a statement, called for holding “marches of anger” after the weekly Friday prayers near the points where Israeli army troops are stationed in the West Bank.

One of the marches would head to Qalandiya military checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, and another would head to the central Hebron neighborhood of Bab al-Zawiya, the release said. A third one would be staged in central Nablus in northern West Bank, it added.

Moreover, a Islamic Jihad leader, Mohammad al-Harrazin, said in a statement that the movement’s agenda focuses on “mobilizing and recruiting” the public in support of Jerusalem.

Al-Harrazin added that a popular revolution is necessary in order to counter the Israeli threats and violations, calling upon Palestinians to organize marches expressing rage and to defend and protect Jerusalem, al-Aqsa and all holy sites.

Late Thursday, Israeli police announced they would prevent Palestinian men under 35 from entering the al-Aqsa compound for Friday prayers, while allowing Zionist settlers into the holy site undisturbed.

Tensions have been running high in occupied East Jerusalem after months of Israeli pressure on the region, including through a massive arrest campaign and a major military offensive on Gaza that left more than 2,100 dead and provoked outrage across Palestine.

They have also been stoked by Israeli authorities’ decision to hold a vote on splitting the al-Aqsa compound despite the existence of a Jewish prayer area at the Western Wall immediately next door.

The unrest mounted further after Israeli authorities sealed access to the al-Aqsa mosque and following the killing of a young Palestinian man suspected of shooting and injuring a far-right Zionist rabbi.

Several far-right Israeli members of the Knesset have also entered the mosque complex in recent days, drawing the ire of Muslim worshippers and official condemnation from Arab and Muslim countries.

Groups of Zionist settlers, too, have forced their way into the site, prompting clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces.

Since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, an agreement with Jordan has maintained that Jewish prayer be allowed at the Western Wall plaza – built on the site of a Palestinian neighborhood of 800 that was destroyed immediately following the conquest – but not inside the al-Aqsa mosque compound itself.

Israeli forces have long restricted Palestinians’ access to the al-Aqsa compound based on age and gender, but have further prevented Muslim worshipers from entering the mosque for more than a month while facilitating the entrance for Zionist extremists.

On Friday, Israeli forces detained three young Palestinians in the occupied East Jerusalem, eyewitnesses said.

“Israeli forces raided the Issawiya village in East Jerusalem and arrested three youths,” an eyewitness told Anadolu Agency.

On Thursday, witnesses said clashes broke out near an Israeli military checkpoint at the main entrance to Shuafat refugee camp where Israeli Occupation Forces attacked Palestinian protesters with tear gas, grenades and sponge rounds.

Clashes also erupted in the al-Tur neighborhood where Israeli forces and undercover agents detained five young Palestinian men., and on the main roads near Anata and al-Ram as well as Hutta square in the Old city.

Israeli forces also closed with concrete blocks the main entrance to the town of Al-Isawiya. Concrete blocks were placed in front of tram stops in East Jerusalem.

Furthermore, seven Palestinians were struck by rubber-coated steel bullets on Thursday afternoon during clashes between Israeli soldiers and students from Birzeit University which took place near Israel’s Ofer detention center west of Ramallah.

Sources at Birzeit University told Ma’an that the Student Union suspended classes in the morning and organized a large rally in the center of campus opposing Israeli attempts to divide the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem into Jewish and Muslim sections.

Following the rally, students left campus in buses and headed to Ofer detention center near the town of Beitunia. Shortly after the rally began, Israeli forces opened fire on the students with tear gas canisters, and the students began hurling stones at the soldiers in response.

The students then ran away and took positions on hilltops around the detention center, before Israeli soldiers started to fire live ammunition and rubber-coated bullets at them, injuring seven.

On Wednesday, as many as 60 Israeli troops stormed the compound through the Al-Magharbeh and Al-Silsila gates and began shooting randomly in the direction of Muslim worshipers, eyewitnesses said.

Israeli troops also fired stun grenades inside the compound’s Al-Qibali Mosque, even entering the house of worship with their shoes until they reached Saladin’s Minbar (Pulpit) for the first time since 1967.

Israeli forces detained over 200 Palestinians in the past two weeks only.

For Muslims, al-Aqsa represents the world’s third holiest site.

In September 2000, a visit to the al-Aqsa Mosque complex by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon sparked what later became known as the “Second Intifada,” a popular uprising against the Israeli occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.

Israel, Jordan and al-Aqsa

Israel on Thursday promised Jordan that it would not allow Jews to pray at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound as scores of Jewish extremists tried to march to the flashpoint shrine.

With clashes raging in several Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied east Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Jordan’s King Abdullah II to reassure him there would be no changes to the decades-old status quo.

“I spoke today to King Abdullah of Jordan and we agreed that we will make every effort to calm the situation,” Netanyahu said.

“I explained to him that we’re keeping the status quo on the Temple Mount and that this includes Jordan’s traditional role there,” he said, using Israel’s name for the compound.

The phone call came 24 hours after fierce clashes between Israeli Occupation Forces and Palestinians protesting the storming of al-Aqsa by Jewish extremists prompted Amman to recall its ambassador to Israel “in protest at Israel’s escalation” and move to file a UN complaint.

Under the current status quo, Jews are permitted to visit the esplanade but not to pray there for fear it would cause friction at one of the most sensitive holy sites in the Middle East.

King Abdullah “recalled that Jordan firmly rejected any measure undermining the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa mosque”, a palace statement said.

Jordan’s status as custodian of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and other Muslim holy sites in annexed east Jerusalem is enshrined in the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries.

Concerns that Israel was set to legislate changes to the status quo have sparked weeks of unrest at the site.

Meanwhile, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek denounced recent Israeli aggressions in occupied East Jerusalem, warning they could jeopardize a “two-state solution” to the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah with Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki, Zaoralek said that certain Israeli policies – like closing the al-Aqsa Mosque compound to worshippers and continued settlement building – contravened international law.

He also asserted his country’s support for the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, saying a two-state solution was the only way to end the decades-long conflict.

Al-Maliki, for his part, said that recent Israeli actions in Jerusalem constituted “a declaration of war.”

Meanwhile, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Israel’s “barbaric and despicable” attack on the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is “unforgivable.”

“With such continuing actions, Israel is preparing the ground for the failure of inter-religious and inter-ethnic dialogue around the world,” he said in a press conference before departing for an official visit to Turkmenistan.

“Israel has already been isolated in the Middle East, but if such actions continue, Israel will also become marginalized at the world level. The occupation of al-Aqsa is not only a concern of Palestinians or Arabs, but of the whole Muslim world.”

Israeli settlers storm Joseph’s tomb

On Thursday, around 150 Zionists gathered near the Old City for a march “to the gates of the Temple Mount.”

“We are proudly marching with high heads to the direction of the Temple Mount. God willing, we’ll get there,” Ariel Groner told AFP, a far-right Zionist and hardline campaigner for “Jewish prayer rights” at the compound.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Zionist settlers under heavy military escort visited Joseph’s Tomb near Balata refugee camp east of Nablus early Thursday morning.

Palestinian security sources told a Ma’an reporter that more than 30 Israeli military vehicles escorted ten settler buses to the site at dawn.

The settlers performed religious rites throughout the early morning hours.

A group of young Palestinian men gathered in the area hurling stones and empty bottles at the Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas canisters and stun grenades.

No casualties were reported.

Israeli settlers frequently visit Joseph’s Tomb under the protection of Israeli forces, who regularly raid local Palestinian villages and fire tear gas into the neighboring Balata refugee camp during these visits.

Though the site lies in an area under Palestinian authority deep in the West Bank, it is fully controlled by Israeli forces.

Palestinians believe that Joseph’s Tomb is the funerary monument to Sheikh Yusef Dweikat, a local religious figure. Others believe that the tomb belongs to the Biblical patriarch Joseph.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.

(Al-Akhbar, Ma’an, Anadolu, AFP)

Israeli forces displayed ‘callous indifference’ in deadly attacks on family homes in Gaza

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A Palestinian child sits above the ruins of his ruined home, and looks at thousands of homes destroyed because of the war on Gaza. © 2014 Pacific Press

A Palestinian child sits above the ruins of his ruined home, and looks at thousands of homes destroyed because of the war on Gaza. © 2014 Pacific Press

by Amnesty International

Israeli forces have killed scores of Palestinian civilians in attacks targeting houses full of families which in some cases have amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International has disclosed in a new report on the latest Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip.

Families under the Rubble: Israeli attacks on inhabited homes details eight cases where residential family homes in Gaza were attacked by Israeli forces without warning during Operation Protective Edge in July and August 2014, causing the deaths of at least 104 civilians including 62 children. The report reveals a pattern of frequent Israeli attacks using large aerial bombs to level civilian homes, sometimes killing entire families.

“Israeli forces have brazenly flouted the laws of war by carrying out a series of attacks on civilian homes, displaying callous indifference to the carnage caused,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

“The report exposes a pattern of attacks on civilian homes by Israeli forces which have shown a shocking disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, who were given no warning and had no chance to flee.”

The report contains numerous accounts from survivors who describe the horror of frantically digging through the rubble and dust of their destroyed homes in search of the bodies of children and loved ones.

In several of the cases documented in the report, possible military targets were identified by Amnesty International. However the devastation to civilian lives and property caused in all cases was clearly disproportionate to the military advantages gained by launching the attacks.

“Even if a fighter had been present in one of these residential homes, it would not absolve Israel of its obligation to take every feasible precaution to protect the lives of civilians caught up in the fighting. The repeated, disproportionate attacks on homes indicate that Israel’s current military tactics are deeply flawed and fundamentally at odds with the principles of international humanitarian law,” said Philip Luther.

In the single deadliest attack documented in the report, 36 members of four families including 18 children were killed when the three-storey al-Dali building, was struck.  Israel has not announced why the building was targeted, but Amnesty International has identified possible military targets within the building.

The second deadliest attack appears to have targeted a member of the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, who was outside the Abu Jame’ family home. The house was completely levelled killing 25 civilians including 19 children. Regardless of the intended targets, both of these attacks constitute grossly disproportionate attacks and under international law, they should have been cancelled or postponed as soon as it was evident that so many civilians were present in the house.

Israeli officials have failed to give any justification for carrying out these attacks. In some of the cases in this report Amnesty International has not been able to identify any possible military target. In those cases it appears that the attacks directly and deliberately targeted civilians or civilian objects, which would constitute war crimes.

In all of the cases researched by Amnesty International no prior warning was given to residents of the homes which were attacked. If it had been given, excessive loss of civilian lives could clearly have been avoided.

“It is tragic to think that these civilian deaths could have been prevented. The onus is on Israeli officials to explain why they chose to deliberately flatten entire homes full of civilians, when they had a clear legal obligation to minimize harm to civilians and the means of doing so,” said Philip Luther.

The report highlights the catastrophic consequences of Israel’s attacks on homes, which have shattered the lives of entire families. Some of the homes attacked were overflowing with relatives who had fled other areas of Gaza in search of safety.

Survivors of an attack on the al-Hallaq family home described horrifying scenes of strewn body parts amid the dust and chaos after three missiles struck the house.

Khalil Abed Hassan Ammar, a doctor with the Palestinian Medical Council and a resident in the building said: “It was terrifying we couldn’t save anyone…. All of the kids were burnt, I couldn’t tell which were mine and which were the neighbours’…We carried whoever we were able to the ambulance… I only recognized Ibrahim my eldest child, when I saw the shoes he was wearing…I had bought them for him two days before.”

Ayman Haniyeh, one of the neighbours, described the trauma of trying to search for survivors:

“All I can remember are the bits and pieces I saw of bodies, teeth, head, arms, insides, everything scattered and spread,” he said. One survivor of the same attack described hugging a bag full of the “shreds” of her son’s body.

Israel has so far failed to even acknowledge any of the attacks detailed in the report and has not responded to Amnesty International’s requests for explanations of why each of these attacks took place.

At least 18,000 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable during the conflict. More than 1,500 Palestinian civilians including 519 children were killed in Israeli attacks carried out during the latest Gaza conflict. Palestinian armed groups also committed war crimes, firing thousands of indiscriminate rockets into Israel killing six civilians including one child.

“What is crucial now is that there is accountability for any violations of international humanitarian law that have been committed. The Israeli authorities must provide answers. The international community must take urgent steps to end the perpetual cycle of serious violations and complete impunity,” said Philip Luther.

Given the failure of Israeli and Palestinian authorities to independently and impartially investigate allegations of war crimes, it is imperative that the international community support the involvement of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Amnesty International is renewing its calls on Israel and the Palestinian authorities to accede to the Rome Statute and grant the ICC the authority to investigate crimes committed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The organization is also calling for the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Israel and the OPT to the ICC so that the prosecutor can investigate allegations of crimes under international law by all parties.

Israel has continued to deny access to Gaza for international human rights organizations including Amnesty International and the organization has been forced to conduct its research for this report remotely, supported by two fieldworkers based in Gaza. Israel has also announced that it will not co-operate with the Commission of Inquiry established by the UN Human Rights Council.

“Failing to allow independent human rights monitors into Gaza smacks of a deliberately orchestrated attempt to cover up violations or hide from international scrutiny. Israel must cooperate fully with the UN Commission of Inquiry and grant international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International immediate access to Gaza to prove its commitment to human rights,” said Philip Luther.

Israel ex-officers urge PM to make peace with Palestinians

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) has been asked to actively pursue peace with the Palestinians in a letter from former high-ranking Israeli army members, police officers and spy chiefs (POOL/AFP Ronen Zvulun)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) has been asked to
actively pursue peace with the Palestinians in a letter from former
high-ranking Israeli army members, police officers and spy chiefs
(POOL/AFP Ronen Zvulun)

Jerusalem: Over 100 former high-ranking Israeli army members, police officers and spy chiefs have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue peace with the Palestinians, media reported Monday.

“We, the undersigned, reserve IDF (army) commanders and retired police officers, who have fought in Israel’s military campaigns, know first-hand of the heavy and painful price exacted by wars,” 105 signatories said in a joint letter addressed to Netanyahu.

Excerpts of the letter were published by Ynet news website.

It called on Netanyahu to embark on a “courageous initiative” and make peace with Palestine and other Arab states.

“We fought bravely for the country in the hope that our children would live here in peace, but we got a sharp reality check, and here we are again sending our children out onto the battlefield,” it said.

“This is not a question of left or right. What we have here is an alternative option for resolving the conflict that is not based solely on bilateral negotiations with the Palestinians, which have failed time and again.

“We expect a show of courageous initiative and leadership from you. Lead — and we will stand behind you,” said the letter.

The website said the letter was the brainchild of major general Amnon Reshef, a former armored corps commander.

Ynet said that Reshef was “sick and tired of a reality of rounds of fighting every few years instead of a genuine effort to adopt the Saudi initiative.”

It was referring to the Arab Peace Initiative drawn up in 2002 by oil kingpin Saudi Arabia, which called on Israel to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, in exchange for a normalization of ties with Arab countries.

Former president Shimon Peres made a similar appeal last week, saying: “It’s a shame that the only peace initiative was an Arab initiative. Where is the Israeli peace initiative?”

US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Palestine have been frozen since April.

(AFP)

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