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Renewed clashes at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

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At least three arrested in second day of clashes as Israeli security forces storm the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Al-Aqsa Mosque

by Al Jazeera

Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for a second straight day on Monday, prompting several arrests.

“As the police entered the compound, masked youths fled inside the mosque and threw stones at the force,” an Israeli police statement said.

Police said they entered the hilltop compound to ensure that Muslim youths massing there did not harass Jews or tourists during the morning visiting hours. The statement added that three protesters were arrested.

Israeli security personnel on Sunday used tear gas and stun grenades in a move condemned by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as they entered the compound to arrest what they called Palestinian “stone throwers”.

“The presidency strongly condemns the attack by the occupier’s military and police against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the aggression against the faithful who were there,” a statement from his office said.

Non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound, but Jews must display national symbols for fear of triggering tensions with Muslim worshippers.

Muslims fear Israel will seek to change rules governing the site, with far-right Jewish groups pushing for more access and even efforts by fringe organisations to erect a new temple. Al-Aqsa Mosque is Muslim’s third holiest site.

Israel seized East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, in the Six Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

UN approves resolution to fly Palestinian flag at headquarters

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The US dismissed the move by the UN, calling it "counterproductive". (AFP/File)

The US dismissed the move by the UN, calling it “counterproductive”. (AFP/File)

by Press TV

The United Nations has approved a resolution calling for the hoisting of the Palestinian flag at the world body’s headquarters in New York.

On Thursday, the UN General Assembly decided that the flags of the non-member observer states of Palestine and the Holy See “shall be raised at (UN) Headquarters and United Nations Offices following the flags of the member states.”

As many as 119 countries voted in favor of the resolution, eight voted against, and 45 abstained.

The draft resolution of the Palestinian proposal was submitted to the General Assembly on August 27.

The resolution requested UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take “the measures necessary” for the implementation of the decision. The UN has 20 days to carry out the decision.

Based on the Thursday decision, delegations of the two nations can participate in the UN sessions.

Before the voting session, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour touched upon the significance of the resolution, saying although symbolic, the measure gives “our people some hope that the international community is still supporting the independence of the state of Palestine.”

The United States and Israel had expressed their opposition to the measure, with US State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner describing it as “counterproductive” and Israel’s envoy to the UN, Ron Prosor, dismissing it as “a blatant attempt to hijack the UN.”

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the besieged Gaza Strip, and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.

On November 29, 2012, the General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status at the UN from “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state” despite strong opposition from Israel and the US.

UN calls on Israel to halt demolition of 13,000 Palestinian homes

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Some 13,000 Palestinian homes are scheduled for demolition in the occupied West Bank. (AFP/File)

Some 13,000 Palestinian homes are scheduled for demolition in the occupied West Bank. (AFP/File)

by Press TV

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on Israel to halt a plan to demolish some 13,000 Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank.

“As we have said repeatedly, the secretary general calls on the Israeli authorities to halt demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures,” Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon, told reporters in New York on Tuesday.

The UN chief also called on Israeli authorities “to revoke plans that would result in the forcible transfer of Palestinian communities, and to implement an inclusive planning and zoning regime that will enable Palestinians’ residential and community development needs to be met,” Dujarric added.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a Monday report that the Palestinian structures are currently under Israeli demolition orders, adding that the orders “leave affected households in a state of chronic uncertainty and threat.”

It also warned that the destruction of Palestinian homes leads to “displacement and disruption of livelihoods” among other things.

Tel Aviv claims the Palestinian structures are demolished because they were built without construction permits, but Palestinians argue such authorizations are routinely denied.

On September 3, Israel destroyed seven Palestinian structures in the East Tayba Bedouin community of the central West Bank, displacing nine Palestinians, including five children.

The Tel Aviv regime intensified the destruction of Palestinian homes last month, razing to the ground as many as 143 Palestinian structures, which is the highest such number in five years.

In August, 31 international organizations, including Oxfam and Amnesty International, criticized a “surge” in West Bank demolitions, saying Tel Aviv is using them to seize property for the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

More than half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank in 1967.

The settlements are considered illegal by the UN and many countries because the territories were occupied by Israel and are thus subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

13,000 Palestinian buildings to be demolished in West Bank – UN report

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Palestinians ride a truck loaded with their belongings after their shanty was demolished by the Israeli army east of the West Bank city of Ramallah © Mohamad Torokman / Reuters

Palestinians ride a truck loaded with their belongings after their shanty was demolished by the Israeli army east of the West Bank city of Ramallah © Mohamad Torokman / Reuters

by RT

Palestinians have little chance of obtaining a construction permit in the West Bank, while Israel keeps issuing new demolition orders for Palestinian buildings faster than it can bulldoze them, says a new report from the local United Nations mission.

“Official  data  released  by  the  Israeli  authorities indicate  that  over  11,000  demolition  orders – affecting  an  estimated  13,000  Palestinian-owned structures, including homes – are currently ‘outstanding’ in Area C of the West Bank,” begins areport, titled “Under Threat,” published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory (OCHA-oPt).

While Israel has destroyed over 2,800 buildings since it began issuing demolition orders in 1988, most of them have never been carried out, remaining a Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads Palestinian residents.

“Structures built without permits are regularly served with demolition orders. While only a minority of the orders issued are executed, these orders do not expire and leave affected households in a state of chronic uncertainty and threat,” say the authors.“Where the orders have been implemented, they have resulted in displacement and disruption of livelihoods, the entrenchment of poverty and increased aid dependency.” A shockingly low percentage of Palestinian applications for permits is ever approved. Israeli Civil Administration data reveals that Palestinians submitted 2,020 requests for building permits in Area C between 2010 and 2014 and only 33 of them (1.5 percent) were approved. “The planning and zoning regime applied by the Israeli authorities, including the ways in which public land is allocated, makes it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in most of Area C,” the report adds.

In reality, less than 1 percent of Area C has been allocated for Palestinian buildings, and even structures like a tent or a fence need an official permit.

Out of a total 11,134 demolition orders, 570 were labeled as ready to be carried out. In the first half of 2015 alone, the Civil Administration destroyed 245 Palestinian structures in Area C. Meanwhile, 2,454 orders were put on hold in light of legal issues, and another 8,110 were said to be “in process.”

Area C represents about 60 percent of the West Bank, which was temporarily divided into three parts – A, B and C – in accordance with the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, more commonly known as the Oslo accords.

Under the signed agreement, Area C was to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority by the end of 1998. This never happened, however, and Israel has assumed military control of the territory. Currently, 300,000 Palestinians reside inside the area.

Palestinians have been demanding full recognition as a sovereign state from the UN and the international community for years now.

Recently, a number of international organizations have intensified their criticism of Israel’s stepped up demolition activities in the West Bank.

“For 70 years they have been trying to get Arabs off the land so the Jews can move in. We feel like we can’t live, it’s not something people feel in the West, only us here. When I tell Israeli forces that I have a family to provide for they don’t care,”Saidi, who is from a Palestinian Bedouin family, told The Guardian.

Meanwhile, in response to the report, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said that residents can still file a request to legalize “illegal” construction through the planning and inspection mechanisms available at the IDF’s Civil Administration, The Times of Israel reported.

UN: Gaza may be uninhabitable by 2020 on current trends

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New report reveals impact of 2014 Israel war on strip, which sent “almost all of the population into destitution”.

Gaza

by Al Jazeera

Gaza could be “uninhabitable” in less than five years if current economic trends continue, according to a new United Nations report.

The report released on Tuesday by the UN Conference on Trade and Development points to the eight-year economic blockade of Gaza as well as the three wars there over the past six years.

Last year’s Israeli war on Gaza displaced half a million people and left parts of the strip destroyed.

The war “has effectively eliminated what was left of the middle class, sending almost all of the population into destitution and dependence on international humanitarian aid,” the new report says.

Gaza’s GDP dropped 15 percent last year, and unemployment reached a record high of 44 percent. Seventy-two percent of households are food insecure.

The wars have shattered Gaza’s ability to export and produce for the domestic market and left no time for reconstruction, the report says. It notes that Gaza’s “de-development,” or development in reverse, has been accelerated.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade of Gaza since the armed group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.

“The humanitarian catastrophe is man-made. The answer is only through are man-made policies,” Hamdi Shaqqura, the deputy director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera.

Shaqqura said that donations from the international community have been “very useful”, but need to be coupled with “real political policies” to effectively help Gaza.

“The answer to Gaza is not dumping money into it. We have great potentials in Gaza for economic policies. What hinder economic development is merely Israeli policies, the closure (blockade) and other restrictions imposed on Gaza.”

A year after the war on Gaza, less than 2 percent of the required materials have been allowed into Gaza.

The report comes as Egyptian military bulldozers press ahead with a project that effectively would fill Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip with water and flood the last remaining cross-border underground smuggling tunnels, which have brought both commercial items and weapons into Gaza.

The report calls the economic prospects for 2015 for the Palestinian territories “bleak” because of the unstable political situation, reduced aid and the slow pace of reconstruction.

India urged to use close Israeli ties for Palestine

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Critics lament New Delhi’s fading pro-Palestinian stance at solidarity convention as Israel relations flourish.

Indian supporters of Palestine want their government to champion Palestinian statehood [Urvashi Sarkar/Al Jazeera]

Indian supporters of Palestine want their government to champion Palestinian statehood [Urvashi Sarkar/Al Jazeera]

by Urvashi Sarkar, Al Jazeera

New Delhi: Once a champion of the Palestinian cause, India should now use its deepening diplomatic relations with Israel to press for an independent Palestinian state, critics say.

Zikrur Rahman – a former Indian representative to Palestine – was one of 10 delegates at a Solidarity with Palestine convention last weekend, which was held to mark the first anniversary of Israel’s attack on Gaza.

“India does not have to sever its ties with Israel, but why should it give up its stand of supporting the anti-colonial struggle in Palestine?” Rahman told Al Jazeera.

“Palestine has never been detrimental to Indian national interest,” he said, adding India should use its position as the second-largest buyer of Israeli arms to pressure Israel to end its decades-old occupation of Palestine.

“All Palestine demands is 22 percent of historic Palestine. India should play a proactive role in supporting the demand,” said Rahman.

Patronage to neglect

Though India recognised Israel in 1950, diplomatic relations were established only in 1992.

“Prior to the 1990s, there was popular support, as well as official patronage for the Palestinian struggle. Members of the Congress and the left were vocal on solidarity platforms,” said journalist Sukumar Muralidharan, who has written extensively on India-Palestine relations.

“But these platforms lost their political backbone in the 1990s. Now it is only the left and some individuals from other parts of the political spectrum that still support the [Palestinian] struggle.”

Muralidharan traced the transition to the rightward political shift and rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 1990s.

“The 1990s were a period of unrest in Kashmir, and the BJP and the mainstream media, which had no time for complexity, began increasingly to see both Palestine and Kashmir under the rubric of Islamic militancy. Following [India’s] 1998 nuclear tests, there was a big expansion in defence budgets, and India began buying increasingly from Israel,” Muralidharan said.

Guns and butter

Military ties with Israel continued under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance as well. But the victory of the BJP in 2014 led to a decisive shift, with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving clear indications of its desire to be a close ally of Israel.

India recently abstained from voting on a UN report that indicated the possibility of war crimes committed by both sides, especially Israel, during the 2014 Gaza assault – resulting in allegations of India having withdrawn its support for Palestine.

The Palestinian ambassador in India expressed shock and said the abstention was a departure from India’s traditional position, and the move was affected by India’s growing military ties with Israel.

The spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs could not be reached for comment.

The Indian government said in a statement, however: “There is no change in our policy of extending traditionally strong support for the Palestinian cause while maintaining good relations with Israel.”

Currently ties between India and Israel are extensive – spanning defence, agriculture, trade, infrastructure, water, technology, and culture.

Forgetting Palestine

Popular mobilisation in India on the issue of Palestine has sharply declined over the years. While there were protests and solidarity eventsin 2014 over the attack on Gaza, they were not widespread.

For members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, organising the August 22-23 convention proved to be an uphill battle.

Satyam Varma, a member of the organising committee, described “threats and psychological pressure” to not hold the event, which was attended by about 350 people.

“We started receiving calls from law and enforcement agencies and right-wing organisations. Some callers wanted to know why we were supporting Palestine, others wanted to know if the organisers were Hindu or Muslim, and how many Muslims would attend,” Varma said.

Shweta Kaul, another committee member, blamed the media for not detailing the plight of the Palestinian people.

“Even educated people do not know about what is happening in Palestine,” Kaul said. “Much of the mainstream media has an ahistorical perspective of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Existing coverage tries to provide a ‘balanced’ picture, which misleads readers.

“We are organising this convention to build awareness about the situation in Palestine and why it needs India’s support.”

Flourishing ties

Israeli embassy spokesman Ohad Orsandi told Al Jazeera he was not aware of what was said at the two-day gathering.

“The Palestine solidarity convention was an Indian event, of which I do not have details. I do not see where Israel sits in this.”

Orsandi added: “Relations among India, Israel and Palestine is far from a zero sum game. India’s support for Palestine is not affected by its flourishing ties with Israel. This used to be joined in the past, but not any more.”

A Palestinian official in India, Yasser Dahlan, urged Indian officials to use their relations with Israel to promote the Palestinian cause.

“India was the first non-Arab state to recognise Palestine [Palestine Liberation Organisation]. We want India to play a positive role in putting pressure on its friend, Israel – with whose leaders it has a personal relationship – for a sovereign state of Palestine based on 1967 borders and on international agreements.”

UK petition to arrest Netanyahu for Gaza war crimes reaches over 80,000 signatures

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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu © Sebastian Scheiner / Reuters

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu © Sebastian Scheiner / Reuters

by RT

A petition calling on the UK government to arrest Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes in Gaza when he arrives in London has garnered more than 80,000 signatures. But David Cameron’s government says no way: Netanyahu has diplomatic immunity.

The petition, posted on the UK government’s website, has already been signed by some 81,000 Brits. Its initiator, Damian Moran, claims that under international law, the Israeli prime minister can be detained when he comes to the British capital in September “for the massacre of over 2,000 [Palestinian] civilians” during the 51-day offensive by the Israeli Defense Force in Gaza last year. The number of signatures has doubled in the last two weeks.

If the petition garners 100,000 signatures by February 7, 2016, the UK parliament is required by law to debate it. However, Moran, the petition’s author, said he “doesn’t expect him [Netanyahu] to get arrested because of the universal jurisdiction laws.” He added: “It is a clear message to him that there’s a massive amount of people who don’t want him here.”

The UK government was required to provide an official answer to the petition as soon as it gathered 10,000 signatures. It replied: “Under UK and international law, visiting heads of foreign governments, such as Prime Minister Netanyahu, have immunity from legal process, and cannot be arrested or detained.”   “We recognise that the conflict in Gaza last year took a terrible toll,” the government statement added. “[A]s the Prime Minister said, we were all deeply saddened by the violence and the UK has been at the forefront of international reconstruction efforts.”   The UK recognizes Israel’s right to “take proportionate action to defend itself,” within the “boundaries of international humanitarian law” and British government condemns the “terrorist tactics” of Hamas, who “fired rockets on Israel, built extensive tunnels to kidnap and murder, and repeatedly refused to accept ceasefires,” the statement said. Like any state, Israel has the right to ensure its own security, as its citizens also have the right to “live without fear of attack,” it added, stressing that the UK is a close ally of Israel’s and the two countries enjoy an “excellent bilateral relationship.”

Israel’s embassy in London dismissed the petition as a “meaningless publicity stunt.”

The military action, Operation Protective Edge, was launched on July 8, 2014 against Hamas-ruled Gaza, and resulted in deaths of over 2,000 Palestinians, including 551 children. Sixty-six Israeli soldiers died in the operation.

Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike slips into coma

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Mohammed Allaan, who has been on a hunger strike for 60 days, is now on mechanical respiratory support, his lawyer says.

The Red Cross warned last week that hunger-striking Mohammed Allaan's life is in immediate danger [AFP]

The Red Cross warned last week that hunger-striking Mohammed Allaan’s life is in immediate danger [AFP]

by Basma Atassi, Al Jazeera

A Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for the past 60 days has now entered into a state of coma, his lawyer told Al Jazeera.

Mohammed Allaan, an alleged “Islamic Jihad” member, stopped eating in June to protest against being held by Israeli authorities without charge.

Israeli authorities have transferred Allaan from one hospital to another after they struggled to find a medic who would feed or examine the prisoner without his will.

Medics at Barzilai Medical Centre, where Allaan is being cared for, have refused to force-feed him, but are injecting his body with supplements essential for his survival.

“Mohammed slipped into a coma last night,” his lawyer Jamil el-Khatib told Al Jazeera on Friday. “He is on mechanical respiratory support now,” he said.

Allaan’s mother is at the hospital along with a few activists, but no one is allowed to see him.

The Red Cross last week warned that Allaan’s life is in immediate danger, and called upon Israeli authorities to allow his mother to visit him in hospital.

Allan was arrested in November 2014 and placed under administrative detention for two six-month periods.

He has been on hunger strike to protest his administrative detention, a controversial measure that allows Israel to detain suspects without charge for long periods.

There were fears by human rights organisations that he would be force-fed after Israel’s parliament last month passed into law the ability to force-feed prisoners on hunger strike.

Israeli group Physician for Human Rights said the government’s sanctioning of force-feeding “pushes the medical community to severely violate medical ethics for political gains, as was done in other dark regimes in history”.

The UN labelled hunger strikes “a fundamental human right”.

Palestinian baby’s father also dies from settler attack

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Saad Dawabsheh, the father of Ali, dies from severe burns caused by firebomb attack, his brother tells Al Jazeera.

The UN says at least 120 attacks by Israeli settlers have been documented in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2015 [Reuters]

The UN says at least 120 attacks by Israeli settlers have been documented in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2015 [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The father of the Palestinian 18-month-old baby boy who died in last week’s settler arson attack in the occupied West Bank has also died from his wounds.

Saad Dawabsheh, the father of Ali, died early on Saturday, his brother told Al Jazeera.

The 32-year-old died in Soroka hospital, where he had been treated for second-degree burns to more than 80 percent of his body.

Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from West Jerusalem, said Saad’s wife, Riham, and four-year-old son Ahmad remain in critical condition, in Tel Hashomer hospital.

“His mother and brother also remain at the hospital. They both remain in very serious condition.

“In fact the mother’s condition for several days was thought to be worse than the father’s so the fact that he succumbed to his wounds raises alot of concern about her,” Tyab said.

Early last Saturday morning, a firebomb was thrown into the family’s bedroom in a suspected settler arson attack, setting the house alight.

A funeral is expected to be held later on Saturday in Duma, where last week’s attack took place.

The Palestine Liberation Organization has said it holds Israel’s government “fully responsible” for the death of the 18-month-old baby and will lodge a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The attack was roundly condemned around the world, including by Israeli leaders, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ringing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and saying they must fight “terrorism” together.

The US state department condemned the “vicious terrorist attack” in “the strongest possible terms”, urging Israel to “apprehend the murderers” and calling on both sides to “avoid escalating tensions”.

According to the UN, at least 120 attacks by Israeli settlers have been documented in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2015.

A recent report by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organisation, showed that more than 92.6 percent of complaints Palestinians lodge with the Israeli police go without charges being filed.

Cafe built over Jerusalem Islamic graves sparks anger

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For centuries, the area housed the Maaman Allah cemetery, the oldest and largest Muslim graveyard in the country.

The owner of the restaurant said he did not know there was a grave under the cafe [Al Jazeera]

The owner of the restaurant said he did not know there was a grave under the cafe [Al Jazeera]

by Al Jazeera

The opening of a cafe in Jerusalem built over a revered Islamic cemetery has sparked condemnation and anger from the Muslim community.

The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said on Tuesday that the construction of the site was part of an Israeli plan that aims to demolish “everything related to Arabic Islamic history on this land”.

Landwer Cafe’s Independence Garden branch opened on Sunday on part of an area of land located between occupied East Jerusalem, which is predominantly Arab, and West Jerusalem. The area was being transformed into a park.

For centuries, the land housed the Maaman Allah cemetery, the oldest and largest Muslim graveyard in the country, and is believed to contain the remains of some of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad.

The owner of the restaurant told Al Jazeera that he did not know there was a grave under the cafe, but refused to make further comments.

“It’s not just the loss of the cemetery that angers the Palestinians. The cafe’s selling of alcohol [forbidden in Islam] is seen as a grave violation of the sanctity of the Islamic site,” Al Jazeera’s Elias Karram, reporting from Jerusalem, said.

The cafe is just one part of a plan that includes the construction on the site of 192 housing units, a 480-room hotel, commercial spaces, parking and other elements, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported.

A Museum of Tolerance is also being built in the area.

The construction began in 2011, but after skeletal remains were found, the Islamic Movement, which aims to advocate Islam among Israeli Arabs, along with other entities, filed a petition to the High Court of Justice.

The work was interrupted but soon resumed after the court eventually granted permission.

“All these projects are being constructed over the skulls of Muslims buried in the cemetery … cemeteries are supposed to be protected in all religious beliefs and international conventions,” Amir Khatib, the head of the Umm al-Fahm-based Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage, said.

Maaman Allah cemetery has a historic and religious significance because it includes the remains of a number of revered Islamic figures who participated in the conquest of Jerusalem in the seventh century.

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