Israel notifies Palestinian of the demolition of his house in the south of West Bank

The Israeli occupation military authorities on Tuesday notified a Palestinian resident of Beit Awwa, to the southwest of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, of the demolition of his house, according to local sources.


Israeli forces handed Rami Ahmad Sweiti a demolition order for his three-story house located in the area classified as B, which is under Palestinian administration and Israeli security control, but near the Israeli segregation wall, said the sources.


The forces claimed the demolition was for security reason.

Infant, his family attacked by IOF with tear gas in Hizma town

Members of a Palestinian family suffered injuries when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Monday night attacked their home in Hizma town, east of Jerusalem.


The incident happened when Israeli soldiers chased a group of youths in Martyr Mohamed Kanaan neighborhood in the central area of the town and showered a house belonging to the family of Kanaan with tear gas grenades.

Consequently, all members of the family, including an infant, suffered from their exposure to tear gas, which spread inside the house.

The infant, who is under one year of age, was rushed to a nearby medical center.

The IOF recently intensified its raids on Hizma town and its environs and set up makeshift checkpoints at its main entrances.

Angry protests in Jenin village following death of prisoner

Spontaneous angry marches and protests took place on Tuesday in the village of Silat al-Daher, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, home of Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diyak who died this morning from cancer while behind Israeli bars.


The protests started from schools with the participation of several institutions from the village and nearby villages in condemnation of the Israeli prison policy of medical negligence that led to the death of Abu Diyak. They called on the world to urgently intervene to put an end to what they said was Israeli crimes.

Shops were closed as a general strike was declared, while protesters set fire to tires and put roadblocks at the entrance of the illegal Israeli settlement of Homesh, while hoisting Palestinian flag.


Abu Diyak, 37, was detained on 17 July 2002 and was sentenced to triple life terms plus 30 years, of which he spent 17 years behind bars before his death. He was diagnosed with an intestinal cancer in September 2015 and his condition began to deteriorate as a result of medical mistakes by the Israeli Soroka hospital in the south of Israel where he underwent surgery to remove 83 cm of his large intestine.

With the death of Abu Diyak, the number of Palestinian prisoners who died as a result of medical negligence has reached 222 since 1967, more than a third of them while in custody.

Cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli jails

Cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diyak, from the West Bank district of Jenin, died on Tuesday in Israeli occupation jails due to medical negligence, said the Palestinian Prisoner Society.


Abu Diyak, 36, was detained in 2002 and was diagnosed with intestinal cancer as well as kidney and lung failures couple of years ago.

Yesterday, the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) has warned that cancer-stricken prisoner Sami Abu Diyak may die any moment after his health condition reached a very critical stage.

In a letter he wrote a few days ago, the Palestinian detainee Sami Abu Diak said he wanted to "die in my mother's lap."


Today, and due to the deliberate medical neglect by "Israel," Abu Diak died, alone and handcuffed on a cold bed.

Although Abu Diak was suffering from an advanced stage of cancer and other serious health problems, the Israeli court rejected all pleas to release him to receive proper medical care.

The PPS held the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the racist crimes committed against Palestinians, including the physical and psychological torture and medical negligence of prisoners, among other violations, calling for an investigation into these crimes.
The death of Abu Diak brings the number of Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli jails since 1967 to 222 prisoners.

At least 700 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails suffer from serious health conditions, of whom 160 prisoners are in need of urgent medical follow-up.

Palestinians have accused the Israeli authorities of failing to provide proper medical treatment or even delay treatment to ill prisoners causing as a result deterioration in their health.

According to Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights organization, “in regard to adequate medical attention and treatment, Article 91 [of the Fourth Geneva Convention] emphasizes that “every place of internment shall have an adequate infirmary…” and that “Internees may not be prevented from presenting themselves to the medical authority for examination.” In addition to this article, Article 92 asserts that “Medical inspections of internees shall be made at least once a month…”. It is evident that the withholding of treatment, or access to a medical professional, is a violation of these specific provisions, and therefore a violation of international humanitarian law.”

HRW vows to continue documenting Israeli abuses despite deportation of its director

Human Rights Watch (HRW) vowed today to keep on documenting Israeli abuses of the Palestinians despite the deportation of its Palestine director Omar Shakir, according to an HRW statement, saying the deportation “reflects the [Israeli] authorities’ intensifying assault on human rights.”


Shakir will depart Israel later tonight after Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s deportation order on November 5 and gave him until November 25 to leave.

HRW said Shakir will continue to monitor human rights abuses in the occupied territories from another HRW office in the region.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the deportation of Shakir “will not succeed in hiding [Israel’s] human rights abuses.”

He said that this decision “shows why the international community must reboot its approach to Israel’s deteriorating human rights record. A government that expels a leading human rights investigator is not likely to stop its systematic oppression of Palestinians under occupation without much greater international pressure.”

Israel revoked the work visa of Shakir, a United States citizen, in May 2018 on the asserted grounds that his advocacy violated a 2017 law that bars entry to people who advocate a boycott of Israel or its settlements in the occupied West Bank. A district court in April, and then the Israeli Supreme Court, found that this position constitutes grounds for deportation under an expansive reading of the 2017 law.

“Neither Human Rights Watch nor Shakir as its representative has ever called for a boycott of Israel. Human Rights Watch has urged businesses to stop operating in illegal settlements as part of their global duty to avoid complicity in human rights abuses – just as it calls on businesses to comply with this duty in many other countries,” said HRW in its statement.

Recently, Israeli authorities have sought to undermine the work of human rights activists, including denying entry to a number of other international rights defenders, maligning Israeli rights advocates, imposing burdensome financial reporting requirements on them, and raiding the offices of and arresting Palestinian rights defenders. In October, Israeli authorities prevented an Amnesty International staff member from traveling out of the occupied West Bank for undisclosed “security reasons.”

This is the first time the government has used the 2017 law to try to deport someone who is lawfully inside Israel and the first time it has ordered a Human Rights Watch staff member to leave in the organization’s 30 years of working in the country, said HRW.

“Today, Israel deports Shakir because Human Rights Watch urges businesses to shun illegal settlements,” said Roth. “Who’s next – someone who calls for the International Criminal Court to examine possible crimes in Israel and Palestine or correctly calls the West Bank 'occupied’ rather than 'disputed’?”

Israeli forces kidnap 23 Palestinians in West Bank raids

Three children among 23 Palestinians Israel detained in Jerusalem, West Bank raids

Israeli occupation forces detained on Monday 23 Palestinians, including three children, from occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank, said the Palestine Prisoner Society (PPS).


It said Israeli police raided the Occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiyeh in the dead of the night, breaking into homes and detaining at least 10 Palestinians, including a child.

Over the last several months, Issawiyeh, a Palestinian village of some 20,000 people, has been facing a rise in police harassment and raids that have disrupted daily life in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, PPS said that three Palestinians, including a 17-year-old teenager, were detained from the southern West Bank district of Hebron.

In Bethlehem district, soldiers detained three Palestinians, including two in an Israeli military raid at al-Azzeh refugee camp, north of Bethlehem city, one of them a 14-year-old boy.

In the northern West Bank, Israeli military raided Anabta town, east of Tulkarm city, where soldiers detained a Palestinian, as reported in the PPS statement.

PPS added that a similar Israeli military raid was conducted in Attil town, northeast of Tulkarm, resulting in the detention of another man.

In Ramallah district, Israeli forces rounded up two Palestinians after ransacking their home in Kobar town, north of the city.

During ensuing confrontations, soldiers opened fire at local youngsters who protested the raid. No injuries were reported though.

In addition, PPS confirmed that a 13-year-old Palestinian was detained from Aqbat Jabr refugee camp, southwest of Jericho.

Two other Palestinians were rounded up at Tammun town, south of Tubas city in the northern Jordan Valley.

Israeli forces demolish coffee shop near Bethlehem

Israeli occupation forces Monday demolished a Palestinian coffee shop in the southern West Bank village of Battir, near Bethlehem, according to a local official.


Battir mayor, Tayseer Qattoush, said that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer to the village to tear down the coffee shop owned by Wisam Oweinh.


He pointed out that the coffee shop was built of wood and stones that do not affect the nature of the area, but rather made the place look better, stressing that Israel aims to erase the Palestinian presence in large parts of Battir in order to annex the land for settlement expansion and construction.


Battir, six kilometers west of Bethlehem, is on the UNESCO world heritage list due to its ancient terraces and Roman-era irrigation system which is still used by villagers to irrigate their crops.

It is home to a Roman spring and bath, an eco-museum and some hiking trails. Its old town is known as the Seven Widows Quarter.

Israeli forces attack students with teargas in Hebron

Dozens of Palestinians students and citizens sustained suffocation today after Israeli forces fired gas canisters near a complex of schools in the south neighborhood of Hebron, south of the West Bank, according to local sources.


It said that dozens suffered from suffocation due to inhaling toxic gas fired at them by the Israeli soldiers.

Schools in the south neighborhood of Hebron are frequently targeted by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

The teargas attack was unjustified and caused many students and citizens in the area to suffer from inhaling fumes. 

Israel bans 10 West Bank Palestinians from travel

Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) last week prevented 10 Palestinian citizens from travelling through Al-Karama crossing between the West Bank and Jordan.


According to a statement by the Palestinian police, over 35,000 passengers managed to pass through Al-Karama crossing in both directions last week.

Meanwhile, 10 Palestinians were banned from travel over "security" pretexts.

Footage documents Israeli soldiers arresting 13-year-old boy in Hebron

A video footage recently released by Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, showed Israeli soldiers detaining a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and, while blindfolded, walking him through the streets.

On November 3 at about 11:30 am local time, soldiers detained Abed al-Razeq Idris, 13, put him in a jeep, blindfolded him and drove him around. They then took him to another neighborhood about one kilometer from his home where they took him out of the jeep and walked him, blindfolded, through the streets.

When his father arrived, B’Tselem said, the soldiers refused to turn the boy over. Instead, they drove him to a military post and then to the police station in the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba. Abed al-Razeq was asked about stone-throwers and sent home alone at about 2:00 pm.

“This case is no aberration,” says the group. “It is part of the routine violence imposed on Palestinians in Hebron by Israeli security forces and settlers, including physical attacks, threats, verbal abuse, soldiers’ incursions into homes (usually at night) – and the false arrest of minors and adults.”

It added, “Israel cites security to justify this conduct and the segregation it imposes on the city. Yet as this case proves, these claims are baseless and serve merely to bolster a policy of driving Palestinians to leave Hebron by making daily life unbearable.”

10 Palestinians injured in settler attacks in Hebron

Dozens of Israeli settlers on Friday night attacked Palestinian homes in different areas in Hebron, Occupied West Bank, injuring at least 10 Palestinian citizens.

Local sources said that two Palestinian citizens suffered bruises after Israeli settlers attacked them near Abu Al-Rish checkpoint in Hebron and were transferred to a nearby hospital for treatment.


In the southern areas of Hebron, 8 citizens were injured after Israeli settlers, escorted by armed soldiers, attacked them with batons and pepper gas.

According to local residents, five Palestinian youths were detained and harassed by the settlers in a shop in Al-Sahla area.

Late on Friday, hundreds of Israeli settlers coming from different settlements in the Occupied West Bank stormed Hebron City to perform Talmudic rituals at the Ibrahmi Mosque. Meanwhile, further restrictions were imposed on the Palestinian residents of the area.

Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron closed to Muslims as thousands of settlers storm

The Israeli military government closed today the Ibrahimi mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron to Muslim worshippers as thousands of Jewish settlers converged on the old town of city, which is under full Israeli military rule, to mark what is known as Sarah holiday, according to local sources.


Tension has been high in the city since yesterday as extremist settlers attacked homes of Palestinian families in the occupied section of the city, injuring several people.

More settlers flocked to the city this morning and specifically to the Ibrahimi mosque, also known as Cave of the Patriarchs where the prophet Abraham, Sarah and others are believed buried.

Settlers were seen yesterday placing stones with Jewish inscriptions on walls and arches in the old town of Hebron in an effort to make believe that the city is historically Jewish.

Israeli forces injure dozens, detain two in Jerusalem

Dozens of Palestinian citizens were injured while two others were arrested when Israeli occupation forces (IOF) attacked Palestinian homes in Al-Isawiya town in Occupied Jerusalem on Friday night.


Local sources said that the IOF stormed Obeid neighborhood in Al-Isawiya and heavily fired tear gas bombs at Palestinian homes. Dozens of citizens suffered breathing difficulties as a result of inhaling tear gas.

The same sources reported that two Palestinian youths were kidnapped by the IOF soldiers before the latter withdrew from the town.

The detainees were identified as Alaa Obeid and Mahmoud al-Rajabi.

West Bank vehicles vandalized in new settler attack

Some 50 Palestinian vehicles were vandalized in the latest spate of Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank district of Salfit.


Israeli settlers slashed the tires of some 50 Palestinian vehicles and spray-painted hate graffiti in Kafr Ad-Dik village, west of the West Bank city of Salfit.

Mayor of Kafr Ad-Dik Ibrahim Issa Ad-Dik said that a group of Israeli settlers sneaked their way into the village, slashed the tires of some 50 vehicles, and scrawled anti-Palestinian hate graffiti on several vehicles and the external walls of houses.


Graffiti reading “A closed military zone” was scrawled in Hebrew at the external wall of a villager’s house, according to Ad-Dik, who noted that this was the second time the village was targeted by settlers in a year.


Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Settlers' violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

Over 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

Israeli forces injure Palestinian, detain five in West Bank

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at daybreak Friday arrested five Palestinian citizens and injured a sixth during raid campaigns in different West Bank areas.


Local sources said that four Palestinian citizens were arrested in a large-scale campaign in Dura town south of Hebron City.


A fifth Palestinian was kidnapped from his home in al-Am'ari refugee camp in Ramallah.

In the same area, a Palestinian youth was injured after an IOF military jeep deliberately hit him.

Meanwhile, violent clashes broke out between the IOF soldiers and Palestinian youths when the former stormed Qabatiya town, south of Jenin, and attacked a Palestinian house.

No arrests were reported there.

UK: Israeli settlements illegal

The British Foreign Office has said on Thursday that its position regarding the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank did not change.


A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said that the United Kingdom’s stand vis-à-vis those settlements was clear mainly that they are “illegal” under the international law.

The statement stressed that the settlements represent an obstacle before peace and the two-state solution. The spokesperson urged Israel to end its settlement expansion policy.

Ashrawi: Trump administration is a threat to international peace and security

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the US administration is a threat to international peace and security.


"The announcement made by US Secretary of State has no legal validity," said Ashrawi in a statement commenting on Secretary Mike Pompeo saying the US no longer considers the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as violating international law.

"The US neither has the right nor agency to rewrite international law and deface the rules-based international order based on its perverse ideological leanings," said Ashrawi. "Israeli settlements are a grave violation of international law, including international humanitarian law. They also constitute a war crime according to the Rome Statute. These are solid facts that the Trump administration cannot alter or unravel."

The PLO official said that the Pompeo announcement "reaffirms Palestine's assessment that the Trump administration is a threat to international peace and security because it is a partner in Israeli crimes and provides political cover for its pervasive violations. This administration is a threat the international community must confront with consistency and moral clarity."

She said the Palestinian leadership "will continue to pursue justice and redress through all available legal and political avenues. Palestine remains solidly committed to international law and at the forefront of defending the values and principles for which it stands. It is time for responsible states to take collective action that rises to the level of threat this administration's lawlessness presents to the world."

Israeli forces detain 17 Palestinians from the West Bank

Ramallah,

The Israeli occupation forces detained 17 Palestinians in various parts of the West Bank, the occupation army spokesman said Thursday.

Local Palestinian radio reported that the Israeli occupation forces stormed several areas in Ramallah governorate, arrested citizens and confiscated a vehicle.

They added that a large military force stormed the neighborhood of Ain Mesbah in Ramallah after midnight, where dozens of youths confronted it and threw stones.

According to local sources that confrontations broke out in the neighborhood, accompanied by the firing of tear gas and bullets at the youths. 

IOF arrested the youth Mohammed 'Awad from Ramallah.

The Israeli occupation forces stormed the village of Kupper in the northwest of the city and confiscated the vehicle of the prisoner Moatasem Barghouthi after raiding his house.

Israeli occupation forces also raided Safa village, southwest of Ramallah, and arrested Mahdi Mahdi Sa'id Karajeh.

Israeli occupation forces stormed the village of Shaqba in the west and raided and searched the house of the ex-detainee Ibraheem Al-Masri and re-arrested him.

The source added that IOF also arrested five youths during raids in Nablus.

In addition to raiding several houses in the Beit Furik village, east of Nablus. They detained Ziad 'Abdul Rahim Hanani, Atef Hanani, and Lu'ai' Imad 'Abdul Qader al-Hajj Muhammad.

IOF kindnaps six Palestinians in West Bank

Several Palestinian homes were raided and citizens kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces "IOF" at dawn Sunday during campaigns in different areas in the occupied West Bank.

Local sources said that IOF arrested at least six Palestinians from their home and stole money belonging to some citizens during its campaigns in the West Bank.

The Israeli army claimed its forces found and seized weapons during a raid on a West Bank house belonging to prison the family.

Israel demolishes barn, uproots trees near Hebron

The Israeli occupation forces "IOF" on Sunday demolished a domestic animals barn and uprooted a number of trees near al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

According to the PIC, the local activist Mohamed Awad said that Israeli bulldozers "JCB" escorted by soldiers and employees from the Israeli army's civil administration destroyed a poultry house and uprooted dozens of fruitful trees in Abu Sada area near al-Arroub camp.  

The domestic animals' barn, which was built on 600 square meters of land, belonged to a local Palestinian resident called Khaled Samaheen, Awad added.  

Israeli continues to demolish the Palestinian houses and property in the occupied West Bank in an attempt to expel the authentic residents and build new illegal settlements. Israel carried out at least 461 demolitions of Palestinian homes and property during 2018