Category Archives: Palestine

Israel bans Muslims from Ibrahimi Mosque beginning Tuesday | Maan News Agency

For the second time in less than a week, Israeli authorities will ban Muslim worshipers from entering Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque beginning Tuesday, Sept. 30 in preparation for the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur on Oct. 4.

An official at the mosque told Ma’an via email that the mosque would be completely closed to Muslim worshipers, while “Jewish settlers” would be allowed free access.

The Israeli authorities closed the mosque to Muslim worshipers last Thursday and Friday on the occasion of the Jewish New Year as well.

Restrictions on Palestinian movement across the West Bank are frequently put in place during major Jewish holidays, ostensibly for security reasons.

Hebron specifically is a frequent site of tensions due to the presence of 500 Israeli settlers in the Old City, many of whom have illegally occupied Palestinian houses and forcibly removed the original inhabitants. They are protected by thousands of Israeli forces.

In 1994, an Israeli settler opened fire on Muslim worshipers in the Ibrahimi Mosque, killing 29 and injuring more than 100 Palestinians.

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

via Israel bans Muslims from Ibrahimi Mosque beginning Tuesday | Maan News Agency.

Israeli ‘intentionally’ runs over Palestinian child in Jerusalem | Maan News Agency

An Israeli individual on Thursday “intentionally” ran over a Palestinian child while he was outside near his house in the Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, a local watchdog said.

The Wadi Hilweh information Center said that Adam al-Rishq, 10, was chased, cornered, and run over by a car driven by “settlers,” in what they said was an “intentional” attack on the boy.

Al-Rishq suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Haddasah hospital as a result of the attack.

Silwan is a site of frequent tensions between Palestinians and local Israeli settlers, who have taken over individual houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood just south of the Old City.

Israeli authorities have rarely prevented the home takeovers, and the “City of David” Jewish archaeological theme park — which houses a number of settlers — has been expanded into nearby homes, whose residents ahve been displaced as a result.

East Jerusalem has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, and today around 300,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements constructed between existing Palestinian neighborhoods.

via Israeli ‘intentionally’ runs over Palestinian child in Jerusalem | Maan News Agency.

The Catholic Bishops: the recognition of the “Aramean” nationality aims to divide the Palestinian Christians from others – Fides News Agency

The decision of the Israeli Ministry of the Interior that Christian Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel can now change their registration in the Ministry from Arabs to “Arameans” is denounced as “an attempt to separate the Christian Palestinians from other Palestinians” by the Catholic Bishops of the Holy Land, who in a communiqué issued by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries denounce the spurious and ideological motivations of the measures taken in this direction by the Government of Israel.

via The Catholic Bishops: the recognition of the “Aramean” nationality aims to divide the Palestinian Christians from others – Fides News Agency.

Just Because They Can – JBTC – Israel bans Muslims from Ibrahimi Mosque Thursday, Friday | Maan News Agency

The Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron will be closed to Muslim worshipers on Thursday and Friday, an official at the mosque told Ma’an Sunday.

Hijazi Abu Sneina told Ma’an the mosque would be open to Israeli settlers during the two days of Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year, but closed to Muslims.

via Israel bans Muslims from Ibrahimi Mosque Thursday, Friday | Maan News Agency.

Perpetual Nakba | Poetry for Palestine

In 1948 WAR, my grandmother was a young mother,

My mother was a child in 1948

* * *

In 1967 WAR my mother was a young mother,

I was a child in 1967

* * *

In 1987 WAR, I was a young mother,

My daughter was a child in 1987

* * *

In 2014 WAR, my daughter is a young mother

My granddaughter is a child in 2014

* * *

EVERY SINGLE ONE of us,

FIVE generation girls/ women/ mothers/ grandmothers

Have lived the Nakba

Repeated over and over and over again

via Perpetual Nakba | Poetry for Palestine.

JBTC – Just because they can – Palestinian teenager shot in head by Israeli forces dies – Autopsy announced for Monday

16 year old Muhammed Sunuqrut died in hospital on Sunday after being critically wounded by Israeli forces in an East Jerusalem protest last week. Relatives state that the teenager was shot in the head at close range with a rubber-coated bullet. 

Muhammed Sunuqrut was declared clinically dead at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, on Thursday before dying on Sunday.

He was wounded in the Wadi Joz neighborhood close to his home on the 31st of August. The teenager’s uncle, Motabi Sunuqrut, said the boy had not even taken part in the demonstrations and that the area was quiet at the time of the incident.

“Ten minutes earlier I returned home and nothing was happening. He left home and was talking to his aunt on the phone, when suddenly he was shot at close range. After he fell the soldiers went on beating him and wouldn’t let anyone come near him to treat him,” he said.

via Palestinian teenager shot in head by Israeli forces dies – Autopsy announced for Monday.

JBTC – Israel seizes 500 acres south of Hebron for military use

JBTC – Just because they can –

Israeli authorities notified residents of Wad Eben Zaid, north of Yatta and to the south of Hebron this morning that a military order will seize 2000 dunums of their land for army use.

The coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Yatta, Rateb Al-Jbour, declared  that  the Israeli authorities gave residents from the Wad Eben Zaid region a military order  dated from 1997 to colonize around 500 acres of their land.

Al-Jbour added that the residents did not know about this declaration and that part of these colonized lands had been used to build homes. The land belongs to the Al-Nameen, Al-Jbareen, Abu- Aram, Al-Doudra and Al- Hmamdeh families.

via Israel seizes 500 acres south of Hebron for military use.

Mean and hateful – just because they have the power! Israeli soldiers set fire to olive trees in Hebron | Maan News Agency

Israeli soldiers set fire to Palestinian-owned olive trees near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron late Thursday.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers deployed in the area pushed a burning tire into an area of olive trees, causing severe damage.

Local Palestinians called the fire brigade to extinguish the blaze but were prevented from arriving in the area by Israeli forces.

via Israeli soldiers set fire to olive trees in Hebron | Maan News Agency.

Israeli settlers continue their raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque

The chairman of the Higher Islamic Authority and preacher for Jerusalem, Ekrema Sabri, told PNN that Israeli settlers and Rabbis, accompanied by the Israeli police, continue raiding Al-Aqsa mosque under the pretext of celebrating the Jewish holidays for three days.

He mentioned that the settlers raid that mosque in groups headed by Rabbis or Israeli political leaders. The Israeli police has been preventing Palestinian women from entering the mosque for three days. He confirmed that he will not give up and rejected the entire Israeli plan of temporarily dividing Al-Aqsa mosque.

Mahmoud abu al-Atta, a media official at  Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage,  said that some of the settlers tried to reach the dome of the rock, a sacred place for Muslims, but Palestinian worshippers confronted them and forced them to leave the mosque.

via Israeli settlers continue their raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque.