Dag: 26 maart 2017
Israel orders Palestinian families in Jordan Valley to evacuate homes for military drills
Bedouin shepherds walk past tents set up in the Jordan Valley near the West Bank city of Jericho
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces notified several Palestinian families in the northern Jordan Valley region of the occupied West Bank on Sunday that they would have to evacuate their homes on Wednesday to make way for Israeli military training exercises, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Israeli forces fire at Palestinian fishermen, agricultural lands in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli forces opened fire along the border with the southern besieged Gaza Strip on two separate instances on Sunday morning, with no injuries being reported in either case.
Fuqaha’s wife calls for retaliation to her husband’s assassination
Nahed Aseeda, wife of martyr Mazen Fuqaha, called on Sunday on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which she considered one indivisible unit, to respond to her husband’s assassination.
During a conference about the Palestinian women at the Islamic University in Gaza on Sunday, Aseeda asked the security services in Gaza to track down the murderers of her husband, expressing concern that Fuqaha’s assassination might be the first of many to come.
Aseeda affirmed that she will raise her children following the same path of her husband, pointing out that she used to be proud for being a wife of a freed prisoner, and now she is even more proud for being a wife of a martyr.
She added, “I am going to continue my life and get a master’s degree so that Mazen will be happy.”
Aseeda talked about her husband’s love for Gaza and his pride for being expelled to it, explaining that this attachment was manifested through the Safad operation which he planned in retaliation for assassinating the Gaza-based al-Qassam Brigades commander Salah Shehade.
(Source / 26.03.2017)
53 settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque under Israeli police protection
Dozens of Israeli settlers and members of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) broke into al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards under the protection of the Israeli police.
According to Quds Press news agency, 53 settlers stormed the courtyard of al-Aqsa Mosque from Bab al-Magharbeh, which has been under full Israeli control since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, before the Israeli police closed the gate at 11 am.
Quds Press pointed out that the tours included some of the courtyards of al-Aqsa Mosque within a specific route ending with Bab al-Silsileh where the settlers performed Talmudic rites and prayers after exiting it, noting that other incursions were conducted after the noon prayer.
1,599 Israelis broke into the courtyards of al-Aqsa Mosque during February 2017 including 118 soldiers and Shin Bet members and 517 students and guides.
(Source / 26.03.2017)
UN commission approves draft resolution on Palestinian women
Palestinian woman releases paper ships, reading ‘Save the Gazan Women’ and ‘We Want Honourable Life’ to the sea to draw attention to Israeli blockade on Gaza on March 09, 2017
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women approved a draft resolution on Saturday regarding the status of Palestinian women, including strengthening economic and social policies to enhance the situation of women in the occupied territory, while strongly condemning Israel’s human rights violations in the Palestinian territory.
The draft resolution, titled “situation of and assistance to Palestinian women,” was adopted with 30 countries voting in favour and 12 abstentions. Israel was the only country to vote against the resolution.
The text of the resolution expressed “deep concern” over the “ongoing illegal Israeli occupation and all of its manifestations,” specifically outlining the effects Israel’s illegal settlement construction, continued home demolitions, and imprisonment has had on Palestinian women.
The UN also cited the high rates of poverty in the Palestinian territory, along with “unemployment, food insecurity, inadequate water supply and unsafe drinking water, shortages of electricity and fuel, incidents of domestic violence and declining health, education and living standards, including the rising incidence of trauma and the decline in psychological well-being,” as having an increasingly adverse effect on the women, particularly in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The resolution also noted the UN’s “grave concern” over “all acts of violence, intimidation and provocation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians,” while highlighting the “excessive and indiscriminate use of force by Israeli occupying forces” that has caused the deaths of scores of Palestinian civilians, including women and girls.
The situation in the Gaza Strip was underscored in the resolution, particularly the effects following Israel’s 2014 military offensive that left thousands of Palestinian civilians killed, including women and children, and the devastating toll it has taken on the coastal enclave’s basic infrastructure.
Read: Israel bans women’s day event in East Jerusalem
Responsibility of the International Community
The UN encouraged the international community to “ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in order to end impunity, ensure justice, deter further violations, protect civilians and promote peace,” and to continue providing urgent assistance to Palestinians suffering from a nearly half century Israeli military occupation and a decade-long Israeli siege.
The UN “reaffirms that the Israeli occupation remains the major obstacle for Palestinian women with regard to their advancement, self-reliance and integration in the development of their society,” the resolution read, while highlighting the importance of increasing Palestinian women’s roles in decision-making in “conflict prevention and resolution,” and their equal participation in solving all aspects of the conflict.
A statement released by the UN following the passage of the draft resolution stated that the United States representative had called the report “biased,” and that the US delegation was opposed to the “one-sided condemnations” of Israeli violations against Palestinians.
Read: Women make up half of Palestinian population
Spain, Israel & Palestine reacts
Meanwhile, Spain’s representative expressed the delegation’s “deep concern” over the impact the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has had on Palestinian women in response to the resolution. However, Spain had abstained from voting owing to concerns over the text of the resolution that they said expressed issues that should be dealt with by the General Assembly.
Israel’s representative said that the resolution “had nothing to do with the situation of women,” according to the UN’s statement. Instead of outlining serious issues affecting women, the Israeli representative said, the aim of the resolution was to “attack Israel,” adding that Israel had “always been committed to improving women’s lives everywhere.”
The Palestinian representative, in contrast, applauded the resolution saying that it “reaffirmed the fundamental legal principles underlying the search for a just, lasting and peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” according to the UN statement. The representative was quoted as saying:
If Israel were really supportive of Palestinian women everywhere, as we have just heard, then the only thing that should be done is for it to end its occupation
(Source / 26.03.2017)
Israeli forces detain 10 Palestinians in West Bank raids
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained at least 10 Palestinians in multiple predawn military raids Sunday across the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement.
Palestinian police detain 3 ‘dangerous fugitives’ in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Palestinian police on Sunday said they arrested three “dangerous fugitives” in the Hebron district of the southern occupied West Bank, according to a police spokesperson.
Abbas receives German ‘Hope for Peace’ prize amid growing Palestinian discontent
DORTMUND (Ma’an) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received a special “Hope for Peace” prize at the Steiger Award ceremony in Germany on Saturday.
Israel authorities in Ktziot prison quash memorial for assassinated Hamas member
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) –The Israel Prison Service (IPS) prevented Palestinian prisoners in Ktziot prison from organizing a mourning gathering for Mazen Fuqahaa, after the Shalit-deal prisoner and Hamas leader was killed in the Gaza Strip on Friday, in what Hamas has branded an assassination by Israel.