Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank on 9 December 2018
Five Palestinian factions and PLO members have agreed to run for Palestinian parliamentary elections on a united list with Fatah, member of PLO Executive Committee and Fatah Central Council Azzam Al-Ahmad said yesterday.
Speaking to Palestine Radio, Al-Ahmad said that his movement had agreed and already started to make contacts with other factions to form alliances in the upcoming elections.
He stated that his movement is working with the five PLO factions to reach a final agreement with them.
Al-Ahmad named the five factions as the Popular Resistance Front, Arab Liberation Front, Palestinian Liberation Front, Palestinian Arab Front and Fida Party.
He said that many factions are working to form alliances with each other. “It is the right of any faction or any Palestinian to form alliances based on the elections law and the presidential decree,” he said.
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement is mourning the death of one of its founders. Sheikh Nabil Al-Bishtawi passed away in the West Bank city of Nablus at the weekend.
Citing his record of serving his people and cause, Hamas said on its website that Al-Bishtawi was one of the first members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine and one of the movement’s founders. The movement offered its sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Al-BIshtawi was one of the hundreds of Hamas members who were expelled by the Israeli occupation authorities to Marj Al-Zohour in southern Lebanon in 1992. This was one of the pivotal moments in the movement’s history, as it attracted a huge amount of media attention and exposed Israeli policies to unwanted scrutiny.
The occupation state expected the Hamas officials to move into Lebanon and melt away in the refugee camps, but they refused. Instead, they put up with months of privation and severe weather before being allowed to return to their homes in occupied Palestine.
The call came during a vehicle rally and press conference held to mark World Civil Defence Day
The General Directorate of Civil Defence in Gaza today called on the international community to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation to force it to allow the entry of safety vehicles and equipment.
The call came during a vehicle rally and press conference held to mark World Civil Defence Day.
In a speech, Director General of Civil Defence in Gaza Zuhair Shaheen appealed to all human rights institutions in Palestine and abroad to work to prosecute the occupation, criminally and legally for its crimes against Palestinian civilians and against the capabilities of civil defence teams.
He pointed out that civil defence teams suffer as a result of Israel’s brutal 14-year siege as support equipment and vehicles are not allowed to enter the Strip.
Shaheen added that the repeated wars on Gaza resulted in the destruction of more than 18 civil defence centres and the targeting of 31 vehicles, while 25 of the apparatus’ cadres were killed while carrying out their humanitarian work, and dozens were injured.
He pointed out that all this had a negative impact on the quality of service provided to citizens.
Shaheen added: “Despite the wars, the siege, the lack of resources, and the scarcity of material and logistical resources, the agency did not stop performing its duty, providing its services to the public. “
A health worker shows glass bottle with Covid 19 vaccine on December 23, 2020
Israel will provide coronavirus vaccinations for 100,000 Palestinians who work in Israel or in its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Israel will start administering the Moderna vaccines in the coming days at crossings and in industrial zones throughout the occupied West Bank.
“During the coming days, a vaccination campaign will begin for Palestinian workers employed in Israel, and in the communities across Judea and Samaria,” the Office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced yesterday in reference to the occupied West Bank.
It added that the vaccinations were being offered “as part of the efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19” and “in order to maintain public health and the functioning of the economy”.
Israel keeps blocking Palestinians from having the covid vaccine – Cartoon
It argues that under interim peace accords the PA is responsible for vaccinations in Gaza and the West Bank.
Shaher Saad, secretary-general of the Palestinian Workers’ Union, said thousands of Palestinians who work in the Israeli services and industrial sectors had already been vaccinated privately by their employers in Israel.
The World Bank said in a report last week that the Palestinian territories have one of the lowest testing rates in the Middle East and North Africa and that the rate of positive tests in the West Bank is over 21 per cent and in 29 per cent in the Gaza Strip, indicating an uncontrolled spread of the pandemic.
The PA also expects to receive an initial COVAX shipment within weeks and says it has supply deals with Russia and drugmaker AstraZeneca, although doses have been slow to come.
The West Bank, where 3.1 million Palestinians live, has reported a total of 118,519 coronavirus cases and 1,406 deaths.
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Sunday afternoon, Kafr ‘Aqab neighborhood and the al-Matar Street, near Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, and fired gas bombs.
Media sources said dozens of soldiers invaded Kafr ‘Aqab, and the nearby al-Matar Street, before closing many roads, leading to protests.
They added that the soldiers fired many gas bombs and concussion grenades at the Palestinians, in addition to a few surrounding stores and homes.
The soldiers also stopped many Palestinians and interrogated them while inspecting their ID cards.
Furthermore, a group of illegal Israeli colonists attacked a Palestinian teenage boy, identified as Mohammad Hasan Abu al-Hummus, 17, in Jerusalem, causing several injuries, especially to his face.
In related news, the soldiers attacked many Palestinian workers near the Annexation Wall, west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
In addition, the soldiers invaded Ta’nak village, west of Jenin, before storming and ransacking the home of Mo’taz al-Muhur, and interrogated him along with his family.
Israeli occupation forces seized, on Saturday, seized two tractors belonging to Palestinian farmers in the village of Bidya, west of Salfit in the central West Bank.
Local sources told Palestinian WAFA News Agency that the army invaded the area and obstructed farmers from ploughing their land, seizing their tractors, and forcing them off the land.
In the same context, the Israeli army, on Saturday, prevented Palestinians from accessing their own lands in the northern Jordan Valley.
Two activists were detained, on Saturday, and dozens of Palestinian demonstrators suffocated on teargas in Ein al-Sakut, in northern Jordan Valley, the Palestinian Information Center reported.
The Israeli occupation army caused dozens of peaceful protestors to suffocate on teargas during a demonstration held on seized Palestinian lands in the northern occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces opened fire towards the participants of the march, and arrested 2 demonstrators, including activist Jonathan Pollak.
Palestinian landowner, Ferihan Daraghmeh stated that the IOF blocked her and others from reaching her land, despite providing ownership papers.
Ramallah (QNN)- The Commission of Detainees Affairs Monday issued a report, narrating details of the horrible arrest experience that the twin teenagers Nasrallah and Naser Addin Al Sha’er (17 years old) have been going through for the last month.
The report quoted the twin as saying that they were arrested from their house at 3:00 am on February 3rd, 2021. Israeli soldiers savagely broke into their house after exploding the main door.
“Outside the house, they handcuffed and blindfolded us then they took us in a military jeep to a near settlement”, the twin tells one of the commission’s lawyers. “After 15 minutes they took us to Huwwarah detention center in southern Nablus”.
“We stayed in a very tiny cell in Huwwarah detention center for 16 days. The life there was like hell; the food was very bad and the treatment was very uncivilized”, they added.
“For 16 days, we have not been allowed to bathe. We stayed wearing the same clothes for 16 days. They also prevented us from going out to the jail’s courtyard for 16 days. the cell was very cold and they only gave us a very dirty blanket. The floor and walls of the cell were all covered with dirt and they smelled very nasty. We had our worst days there.”
“After that, we were taken to Salem military camp, where we were interrogated, each one of us alone, for nearly an hour. Then we were taken to section 10 of Megiddo jail, where we have been for seven days so far”.
Each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system. The most common charge is stone throwing, for which the maximum sentence is 20 years. Currently, more than 190 Palestinian children remain in detention in Israeli prisons, the majority of whom are in pre-trial detention and have not been convicted of any offence.
Figures show that the occupation state has arrested about 7,000 children since 2015.
Since 2015, the occupation state has passed new laws that would legalize the issuance of high prison sentences for children, in some cases up to life imprisonment.
Jerusalem (QNN)- The Israeli occupation municipality of West Jerusalem today demolished a two-story house owned by Hatem Abu Mayaleh in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiyya.
This is the fourth time the Abu Mayaleh house is being demolished under the pretext of construction without a permit.
Mohammad Abu al-Humus, head of the Isawiyya Residents’ Follow Up Committee, told WAFA that a large Israeli occupation force cordoned off the area where the house is located as a bulldozer proceeded to tear down the Abu Mayaleh building.
The owner of the house suffers from paraplegia paralysis caused in 2009 when he fell and broke his spine during one of the times the municipality was demolishing his house.
“We are an occupied people.The Israeli municipality doesn’t care about the [Palestinian] citizen’s opinions or needs,” the owner of the house said.
He continued, “They want to uproot us and keep him away from his land. They want the land for themselves. They demnad us to follow the law, but they don’t follow the law!”
“They asked us to be organized, and so we did, but it’s all in vain.”
"They want to uproot us"#Watch | The Palestinian Hatem Abu Riyala talks about his feelings as he watches his house being demolished by the Israeli occupation, today morning, in Issawiya neighbourhood. pic.twitter.com/qbV1Q5QPKv
Geneva (QNN)- The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor welcomed today a letter signed by some 450 European parliamentarians addressed to EU foreign ministers calling for pressuring ‘Israel’ to stop the “de facto annexation” of the West Bank.
The European parliamentarians’ letter is consistent with international law regarding the prohibition of any annexation of occupied lands by the occupying state, including the violations that this entails from the forced displacement of the civilian population.
Signatories to the letter include MPs from 22 European countries, in addition to members of the European Parliament. The vast majority are affiliated with parties on the center-left, such as the Social Democrats and the Greens.
The letter stated that Israeli policies in the West Bank are eliminating the possibility of a two-state solution and entrenching a one-state reality of unequal rights and perpetual conflict.
It called on the EU to take advantage of the change in the American administration “as a much-needed opportunity to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with renewed effort”.
“This European parliamentarians’ wide-scale stance requires a translation on the ground by reviewing European partnership and cooperation agreements with Israel,” said Chairman of Euro-Med Rights Monitor, Ramy Abdu.
“Israel’s plans to effectively annex parts of the West Bank, in addition to violating international laws and demonstrating more blatant disregard for them, will lead to an exacerbation of decades of human rights violations against Palestinians.”
“The developments on the ground clearly indicate the rapid actual annexation, especially through the accelerated settlement expansion and the demolition of Palestinian buildings,” said Euro-Med Monitor.
The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is considered an occupied territory under international law, which makes all Israeli settlements there, and the areas planned to annex, illegal.
In July 2020, 1,080 members of the National Societies and the European Parliament signed a joint letter, denouncing the Israeli annexation plan for parts of the West Bank, and urging EU leaders to stop the proposed plan and preserve the prospects for a two-state solution.
“A tougher European stance is needed against the actual Israeli annexation of Palestinian lands, based on the fact that seizing lands by force is a war crime and would deal a severe blow to the international system calling for a two-state solution to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” Euro-Med Monitor stated.
“The International Criminal Court (ICC) should promptly open an official investigation into the Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories, especially with regard to the demolition of homes and the confiscation of Palestinian lands. These violations have devastating effects and consequences on the lives of the Palestinian citizens, their economy, and the future of their children that constitute crimes against humanity for which international law is held accountable.”
![Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank on 9 December 2018 [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/20181209_2_33840965_39748105.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
![Sheikh Nabil Al-Bishtawi [Palinfo]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Nabil-Al-Bishtawi.jpg?resize=1199%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
![A vehicle rally and press conference held to mark World Civil Defence Day by Gaza’s civil defence teams on 1 March 2021 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/6Z8A8628.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1 "6Z8A8628")
![A vehicle rally and press conference held to mark World Civil Defence Day by Gaza’s civil defence teams on 1 March 2021 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/6Z8A8637.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1 "6Z8A8637")
![A vehicle rally and press conference held to mark World Civil Defence Day by Gaza’s civil defence teams on 1 March 2021 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/6Z8A8638.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1 "6Z8A8638")
![A vehicle rally and press conference held to mark World Civil Defence Day by Gaza’s civil defence teams on 1 March 2021 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/6Z8A8649.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1 "6Z8A8649")
![A vehicle rally and press conference held to mark World Civil Defence Day by Gaza’s civil defence teams on 1 March 2021 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/6Z8A8658.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1 "6Z8A8658")
![Director General of Civil Defence in Gaza Zuhair Shaheen during a vehicle rally and press conference held to mark World Civil Defence Day by Gaza’s civil defence teams on 1 March 2021 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/6Z8A8670.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1 "6Z8A8670")
![A health worker shows glass bottle with Covid 19 vaccine on December 23, 2020 [Nir Keidar/Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/20201223_2_46005775_60908535.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
![Israel keeps blocking Palestinians from having the covid vaccine - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IMG_1967-1.jpg?resize=500%2C312&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
