The Palestinian Authority on Sunday sent a warning to Israel, over what it calls its attempts to harm the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.
Speaking during a meeting of the PLO's Executive Committee, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that it is impossible to hold back in the wake of what he called the attacks by Israel on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and PA Arabs in Judea and Samaria, in particular by local Jewish residents.
"We cannot remain silent over such actions, nor can we accept their recurrence," Abbas said. "If Israel is dreaming about establishing facts on the ground through its daily attacks against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, then it is deluded."
He added, "Eastern Jerusalem is our capital city, Al-Aqsa belongs to us, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre belongs to us, and we will not accept [the IsraelisÕ] harassment.Ó
Arabs continuously accuse Israel of "Judaizing" the Temple Mount, sometimes resorting to ridiculous propaganda such as accusing Israel of using chemicals to erode the foundations of the mosque in order to cause it to collapse.
At the same time the Waqf, which was left in charge of the Temple Mount after Israel liberated it during the 1967 Six Day War, consistently destroys Jewish antiquities on the compound in a direct violation of a ruling by the Supreme Court.
The Waqf has removed every sign of ancient Jewish presence at the site. At the entrance to the Temple Mount, a Waqf sign says, ÒThe Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard and everything in it is Islamic property.Ó
Israeli Police, in an attempt to appease the Waqf, discriminate against Jews. They limit the number of Jewish worshippers allowed on the Temple Mount at one time in order to prevent conflict with Muslim worshippers. They often close the Mount to Jews in response to Muslim riots Ð despite evidence that Muslim riots have been planned in advance for the specific purpose of forcing Jews out.
Last week, Israeli police questioned and released Jerusalem's most senior Muslim cleric, Mufti Mohammed Hossein, for suspected involvement in throwing chairs at a group of Jews on the Temple Mount.
The United States subsequently called for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to exercise restraint over the tensions at the compound.
Israeli police have detained the top Muslim cleric in the Palestinian territories and are questioning him over the latest disturbances at a Jerusalem shrine.
Mohammed Ahmad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was taken from his home by detectives and was being questioned at a police station "on suspicion of involvement in a disturbance that took place yesterday [Tuesday] on Temple Mount," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
"Some chairs were thrown at a group of Jews on the Temple Mount," which Muslims refer to as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, Rosenfeld said of the previous day's incident.
On Tuesday, approximately 40 Israeli settlers who were on a tour and were being escorted by Israeli police entered the al-Aqsa Mosque area, according to local media reports.
Israeli police had set up checkpoints and prevented Palestinians from entering to pray.
Condemnation
Jordan's parliament voted unanimously on a memorandum to expel the Israeli ambassador from Amman, while also demanding the Jordanian ambassador in Tel Aviv be recalled, in response to the detention of the mufti, according to Jordan's Petra News Agency.
The House of Representatives voted to "demand the government request the Israeli ambassador in Amman to leave the Kingdom in response to the actions of the Israeli occupation against the al-Aqsa Mosque."
Jordan is also the Arab patron of Occupied Jerusalem.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "condemned the occupying Israeli authorities' detention of Jerusalem mufti Mohammed Hussein," his office said in a statement.
Abbas "demanded the Israeli government release the mufti immediately, and said the arrest represents an audacious challenge to freedom of worship".
Rosenfeld would not elaborate on what the mufti's alleged involvement in the incident was, saying the cleric could be released later. Senior clerics are rarely detained in Jerusalem.
Hussein's detention comes on Jerusalem Day, when Israel marks the "reunification" of the city after it captured the Arab eastern sector from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War.
The contested site, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is built above the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples, is one of the region's most sensitive and its fate is at the heart of the conflict.
Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad was transported from the sacred mosque in Mecca to Al-Aqsa during his Night Journey.
Israeli steps to quell Palestinian disturbances there have led to riots in the past.
Mayor wants 'sole Jewish rule' in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israel's mayor of Jerusalem said Tuesday that Palestinians will never have sovereignty in the Holy City, suggesting that they rename Ramallah as "northern Jerusalem" instead.
Speaking to The Times of Israel news site, Nir Barkat said it was in Jerusalem's DNA to be under "sole Jewish rule" and pressure from the international community to stop building on occupied territory was "illegal."
"The answer is no separation of the city É If the world pushes us there, itÕs just a matter of time before things will fall apart," Barkat told the Times on the eve of Jerusalem Day, a controversial national holiday celebrating what Israelis call the "reunification" of the city.
The international community views Palestinian East Jerusalem to be under occupation.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir
Barkat arrive at a special cabinet meeting marking Jerusalem Day at
Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem May 20, 2012. (Reuters/Abir Sultan/Pool)
Barkat said it was "ridiculous" that Jews were not allowed to pray in the highly sensitive Al-Aqsa compound and added that he was uncomfortable with the status quo on the issue.
There are around 360,882 Palestinians in Jerusalem, or 38 percent of the city's population, and East Jerusalem is widely viewed as the future capital of a Palestinian state.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and formally annexed the area in 1980 after passing the 'Jerusalem Law' in a move never recognized by the international community.
Finding themselves involuntarily under Israeli control, Israeli rights group ACRI says Palestinians in Jerusalem do not play any part in policy-making in the city, even though Israeli authorities have an obligation to uphold their rights.
Once a center for Palestinian political, economic, religious and cultural life, the "effects of annexation, neglect, rights violations, and the completion of the Separation Barrier have led to an unprecedented deterioration in the conditions" of East Jerusalem, ACRI says.
Israeli court orders demolition of part of mosque in Jerusalem RAMALLAH (Ma'an) May 5th, 2013 -- An Israeli court has rejected an appeal to stop the demolition of part of a mosque in Ras al-Amoud in East Jersualem, the mosque's imam says.
The court in Jerusalem ruled that a section of Muhammad Al-Fatih Mosque was built without a license and must be demolished, Sheikh Sabri Abu Diab told Ma'an.
The imam said the section under threat is used by female worshipers.
The 70-square-meter section was built in 2009 to increase the mosque's capacity, particularly on Fridays, the Muslim day of worship, as thousands of people who are denied access to Al-Aqsa Mosque pray in Ras al-Amoud instead, Abu Diab said.
Engineers and lawyers tried to get a license for the additional section but Israeli authorities refused, he added.
A Jerusalem court first ordered the demolition of the section in 2012, but the decision was appealed.
The latest decision cannot be appealed, but Palestinian members of Israel's Knesset Ibrahim Sarsour, Masoud Ghanayim and Talab Abu Arar have said they will try to stop the demolition.
The rest of the mosque was built in 1964 on land owned by the endowment foundation. "It was built before the annexation of Jerusalem," the sheikh said.
Israel bulldozes 4 apartments in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) 29/04/2013 -- Israel razed four apartments on Monday in the al-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem, in spite of several attempts to revoke the demolition order, owners said.
Israeli authorities evicted 24 Gaith family members -- including five children and an elderly woman -- from the apartments ahead of the demolition, Rushi Ghaith, one of the owners, told Ma'an.
The apartments were scheduled for demolition in December but the family secured a court-ordered injunction to stop it from going ahead until September, Ghaith said.
The Ghaith family lawyer said they had successfully stalled attempts to raze the apartments since September 2004, when Israeli authorities handed down the demolition notice because the home was built without a licensing permit. The family's case to reverse the demolition order is ongoing.
Ghaith said the family has been fined 88,000 Israeli shekels since the case began.
Two of the family members have been diagnosed with cancer, including one of the owners, he added.
Local field researcher Ahmad Sub Laban said Israel has earmarked the area for the construction of an illegal outpost called National Park 11092 A.
"This project confiscates 740 dunams of Issawiyah lands and al-Tur lands. According to Israeli law, no construction is permitted on these lands," he said.
The plan was frozen after international condemnation, he said, and is awaiting re-approval from the Israeli government.
According to the UN, 33 percent of all Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem lack Israeli-issued building permits, which are difficult to obtain, potentially placing at least 93,100 residents at risk of displacement. Since 1967, the Israeli authorities have demolished some 2,000 houses in East Jerusalem.
A group of extremist settlers torched, late on Saturday at night April 27, nine cars that belong to the United Nations in its headquarters in Jabal Al-Mokabbir, south of occupied East Jerusalem. The settlers also burnt a Palestinian car, a home and trees in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in the city, several injuries have been reported.
Maale Adumim Settlement - IMEMC
Resident Mahmoud Al-Maghrebi, told the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) that armed extremist settlers burnt his car in Sheikh Jarrah, and also burnt a home that belongs to one of his relatives leading to excessive damage, and three injuries.
He added that a 65-year-old woman and two young men suffocated after inhaling smoke resulting from the fires, and were moved to a local hospital.
Al-Maghrebi further stated that the settlers torched gardens that belong to the Al- Maghrebi, JaÕouni and Al-Khatib families, and that the police did not open an investigation after claiming that they have to wait for the report of the Israeli Civil Defense teams Òto determine the causes of the firesÓ, WAFA reported.
Maisa Abu Ghazala of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center quoted UN sources in Jerusalem stating nine of the UN cars have been burnt, and that the UN refrained from revealing any further information.
Extremist Israeli settlers in occupied Palestine are responsible for hundreds of similar attacks, in addition to other attacks targeting Muslim and Christian holy sites, graveyards, and Palestinian orchards.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian prisoner held by Israel has agreed to end an on-off hunger strike on Monday which lasted for more than eight months in exchange for an early release, Palestinian officials told Reuters.
The fast by Samer al-Issawi, 32, from a suburb of Jerusalem, had stoked weeks of street protests and concerns by Israel that his death might lead to mass unrest.
Issawi agreed on a deal brokered by Israeli and Palestinian officials to serve eight months for allegedly violating bail conditions for an earlier release, after which he will be freed to his Jerusalem home, Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian prisoner organization, told Reuters.
Issawi's lawyer and sister conveyed the offer just before midnight to his bedside in Israel's Kaplan hospital, where he had been under Israeli guard and receiving intravenous vitamins but was refusing food.
Israel convicted Issawi of opening fire on an Israeli bus in 2002, but released him in 2011 along with more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier held hostage by the Hamas Islamist group in Gaza.
He was re-arrested last July after Israel said he violated the terms of his release by crossing from his native East Jerusalem to the West Bank, both majority-Palestinian areas, and ordered him to stay in jail until 2029 - his original sentence.
An Israeli official told Reuters last week that Issawi had crossed into the West Bank as part of "continued involvement in attempting to establish terror cells."
Monday's deal dispenses with conspiracy charges and will see Issawi serve eight months for leaving Jerusalem - a decision Palestinian officials say will likely be endorsed by an Israeli military court on Tuesday.
Both Palestinian and Israeli officials have visited Issawi frequently in recent weeks to reach a compromise and pre-empt the violence his death could provoke.
The Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah, has said it will try to prevent any mass uprising against Israel and has renounced violence in its quest for statehood.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is keen to give U.S. President Barack Obama a chance to renew stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks after his visit to the region last month.
Israel holds some 4,800 Palestinians it accuses of committing or planning violence against it. 207 Palestinian security prisoners have died in Israeli jails since 1948, Palestinian officials say.
(Reporting By Ali Sawafta; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Occupation forces suppress peaceful march commemorating the Nakba in Jerusalem Wednesday, 17 April 2013 / Occupied Palestine
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) suppressed on Tuesday a Palestinian peaceful march in the occupied city of Jerusalem to commemorate the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Nakba.
Jerusalemite sources reported that Israeli soldiers and policemen attacked a peaceful march launched on Tuesday from the Salah al-Din Street, east of Jerusalem, to commemorate the Nakba anniversary with the participation of dozens of Jerusalemite youths who chanted slogans against the occupation.
The occupation military forces dispersed the masses of marchers and arrested five of them. Three of the detainees were subsequently released, while the Israeli forces extended the detention of two others pending further investigation.
The occupied city of Jerusalem has been witnessing security tension that has recently increased after large groups of Jewish settlers announced that they will organize a series of raids into Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Talmudic prayers in its courtyards.
Zionists tour al-Aqsa Mosque compound Wednesday, 17 April 2013 / MaÕan News Agency
Around 60 right-wing Israelis raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound through the Moroccan Gate early Tuesday, witnesses said.
Israeli security officers escorted groups of Israeli extremists who toured the compound before leaving through the Chain Gate.
Worshipers who were performing prayers at the time chanted Allah Akbar in protest at the visit.
Meanwhile, Israeli police detained five Palestinians putting up Palestinian flags on Salah Addin street, a MaÕan reporter said.
The flag-raising was in response to Israelis putting up Israeli flags across Jerusalem for Israeli Independence Day.
Settlers carry out provocative acts in Occupied Jerusalem Tuesday, 16 April 2013 / Kuwait News Agency
Israeli settlers carried out a series of provocative acts in occupied Jerusalem late last night, local media reported Tuesday.
Local radio stations reported early this morning that large numbers of Israeli settlers arrived in Occupied Jerusalem, as part of Israeli celebrations of ÒLiberation dayÓ, and carried out provocative acts against Palestinians in the area, in addition to destroying a Palestinian store in the old town.
Eyewitnesses stated that the Israeli police in Jerusalem did not arrest the settlers and troublemakers.
Jewish extremist groups are scheduled to walk in a demonstration starting in front of the Israeli Prime MinisterÕs home in Jerusalem reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque later today. This coincides with Palestinian marches, marking the 65th anniversary of ÒAl-NakbaÓ.
The Jewish extremists are demanding full Israeli sovereignty on Al-Aqsa Mosque and permission for Jews to carry out their religious rituals within its grounds.
The Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) to take place on 7th June 2013 Press Statement
The International Executive Committee of the Global March to Jerusalem announces this yearÕs March to take place across the globe on Friday 7th June 2013. This date coincides with the 46th anniversary of the occupation of the eastern part of the Holy City, which is home to the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other sacred sites.
The GMJ international leadership has confirmed that it is being organised in response to the continued Zionist occupation of the Holy City, its persistent violations against the city and its indigenous Arab inhabitants Ð both Christian and Muslim, and its continued racist practices which are incompatible with UN resolutions, international law and international humanitarian law. This requires the initiative of all popular forces across the globe in organising anti-occupation activities, and also requires that all lovers of peace and freedom stand against the policies of the systematic and racist Judaisation of the Holy City.
Popular organisations, supporters of the Palestine Cause and lovers of world peace across the globe must not stand silently and idly by and watch as the city of peace is transformed into a den of Zionist racism. They must not stand by as the worst Zionist crimes are committed against it, its people and the holy sites within it in full sight and hearing of the world community, as well as international organisations, which fail to lift a finger when it comes to the occupying state Ð a country which enjoys the absolute support of the worldÕs colonial powers, particularly the United States.
As such, organisers of the GMJ intend to make it an annual occasion to mobilise popular efforts and energies toward exposing the racist character of the occupying state of Israel, and to demand the liberation of Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine from occupation. They derive their motto Òthe peoples of the world demand the liberation of JerusalemÓ from the spirit of the Arab Spring revolutions, which confirm that the will of the people is invincible.
This peaceful world march and the activities that accompany it will clearly emphasise that the peoples of the world, and all those who love peace, freedom and justice stand as a single unit in opposition to apartheid policies: the expulsion of the Jerusalemite population; the construction of the Wall and settlements; the Judaisation of the Holy City and the transformation of its identity; and the threat of demolishing or expropriating its sanctuaries.
Massive marches will be organized in Palestine and surrounding countries towards Jerusalem or the nearest point possible to it according to the circumstances of each country, and through coordination between all groups and institutions of civil society taking part in the march.
Mass demonstrations and large rallies will be organised in the main public squares in the big cities of the world. Protests also will be organised in front of Israeli embassies in the capitals of different countries across the world to demand an end to the occupation of Jerusalem and the rest of Palestinian land.
The International Executive Committee for the March
London-April 13th 2013
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For further information, please call the spokesman for the GMJ, Mr. Zaher Birawi on mobile number 00447850896057 or via e-mail: gm2j.media@gmail.com.
IJC warns the Occupation plans to build Talmudic garden near Al-Aqsa
Monday, 8 April 2013 / Occupied Palestine Ð The International Jerusalem Center warned of Israeli intentions to establish a Talmudic garden on confiscated Jerusalemite lands near Al-Aqsa Mosque from the eastern side.
The Center said that the occupation authorities decided to build a Talmudic garden, a garbage dump and an infrastructure network over an area of more than 1,232 dunums of confiscated Jerusalemite land, owned by citizens in the towns of Issawiya, Tur and Anata.
It stressed in a press statement on Sunday that in case of the implementation of such a serious settlement plan, these Jerusalemite towns will be deprived of urban expansion, isolated from their Arab surrounding, and exposed to more restrictions.
The IJC warned that the plan comes within the framework of a larger settlement scheme that aim to connect Maale Adumim Ð one of the largest settlements in the West Bank Ð with a number of smaller settlements in the vicinity of the Old City.
It also asserted that the occupation wants to isolate and besiege the Jerusalemite towns of Issawiya, Tur and Anata, in preparation to displace the population, and besiege the rest of the eastern side of Jerusalem.
The IJC urged the Palestinian leadership to move in order to stop these Israeli schemes, based on the international resolutions that consider Jerusalem an occupied land, especially after Palestine obtained the status of non-member observer state at the United Nations.
It also called for resorting to the International Criminal Court to stop the Israeli occupation authoritiesÕ schemes against Jerusalem and its residents.
Abbas suspends ICC Jerusalem complaint
Sunday, April 7 2013 / By Anne Gearan, The Washington Post Ð Beginning a tentative round of Middle East shuttle diplomacy, Secretary of State John F. Kerry is asking for small concessions from both Israel and the Palestinians to smooth the way for new talks, U.S. and other officials said Sunday.
Kerry first visited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has resisted new talks for most of the past four years. His government had sought to file a complaint with the International Criminal Court against Israel over home building in Jerusalem but put the plan on hold shortly before Kerry arrived.
Kerry was expected to ask Abbas to drop or suspend the complaint as a way to build confidence among Israeli leaders that talks can be fruitful, Arab officials said.
Palestinian prisoners go on hunger strike en masse to protest inmateÕs death
Thursday, 4 April 2013 / By Arthur Bright, The Christian Science Monitor Ð Thousands of Palestinian prisoners began a planned three-day hunger strike this morning in protest of the death of a Palestinian inmate who died of cancer yesterday, while in Israeli custody.
The Palestine News Network writes that some 4,500 Palestinian prisoners sent back their food this morning as part of a protest over the death of Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh, a 64-year-old Hamas member who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in February. The Palestinian establishment widely blames his death, the cause of which has not yet been conclusively determined, on Israel for failing to provide him with adequate care, reports Haaretz.
ÒThe Israeli refusal to address our appeals to release [Abu Hamdiyeh] led to a deterioration in his condition,Ó Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said. ÒWe turned to many countries and to the international community to act on behalf of the Palestinian prisoners but Israel did not sway from its position.Ó
The Palestinian PrisonersÕ Committee also accused Israeli authorities of intentionally and negligently delaying treatment for Abu Hamdiyeh.
But IsraelÕs Prison Service said that it had done all it could for Abu Hamdiyeh since he was diagnosed in February, including transferring him to the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba and beginning the process to grant him an early release, the Jerusalem Post reports.
ÒThe [release] board held one discussion on the matter and was supposed to hold another one this week,Ó said Gondar Nasim Sabiti, a Prisons Service district commander.
The Christian Science Monitor reports from Gaza that Abu HamdiyehÕs death also spurred a rare public protest in Gaza by HamasÕs armed wing, which has been keeping a low profile.
Supporters gathered at a local mosque at dusk, armed gunmen from the Qassam Brigades spilling out of at least five pick-up trucks to kick off the march in a rare public appearance since the November cease-fire.
They were followed by several thousand supporters on foot, from elderly men limping along to bands of rowdy children. With the death of Hamdiyeh and [Arafat Jaradat, a prisoner who died last month Ð allegedly due to Israeli torture, according to Palestinians] and several prominent Palestinian prisoners on very prolonged hunger strikes, the prisoner issue has garnered the attention of both Fatah and Hamas officials in recent months.
Supporters of both factions are particularly irritated that Israel has rearrested prisoners like Jaradat who were released as part of the prisoner swap to secure the release in 2011 of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped and held in Gaza for several years.
The MaÕan News Agency adds that Hebron and East Jerusalem Òshut downÓ as part of a general strike in mourning of his death.
Abu Hamdiyeh had been serving a life sentence after being convicted of several crimes, including attempted murder in connection with a 2002 bombing plot. An autopsy is scheduled for today, and his funeral is set to take place tomorrow.
The prison protests come amid signs that the November ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is weakening. Yesterday and today, there was an exchange of fire between Israel and Gaza, as Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike in northern Gaza and several Palestinian rockets were fired, hitting near Sderot, in response. No injuries were reported from either attack, reports CBS News.
The Proliferation of Stealth
Settlements in Jerusalem
By Jodi Rudoren, The New York Times – The Muslim call to prayer
resounds through the traffic circle in the Palestinian enclave of Ras
al-Amud, through the taxi stand where waiting drivers sip sweet coffee
and the vegetable market where boys help their fathers after school. It
can also be heard down the street in Maalot David, where a few Jewish
families have quietly taken up residence in newly renovated apartments
with prime views of Jerusalem’s Old City.
Maalot David is not a typical Israeli settlement, a planned community
in the hills, surrounded by gates and guards, where Jews live separate
and apart from nearby Palestinian villages. It is a new apartment block
sandwiched into the very fabric of Arab East Jerusalem, a construction
many say fundamentally undermines the idea that the area could ever
serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.
Palestinians Blocked from al-Aqsa for
Friday Prayers
Ahram Online – Israeli police forces announced restrictions on Muslim
Palestinians who seek to enter Al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers, the
London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported Friday.
The newspaper stated that intelligence information, which reveals that
Palestinians might seek to commit “riot acts”, came behind such
decision.
The order allows only Palestinians carrying Israeli identity cards and
above 50 years old to enter the mosque. Palestinians who cannot meet
these criteria are banned to pray in the mosque, with an exception
granted to women.
Occupation Forces Arresting Children
to Prevent Third Intifada
By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours, Al-Monitor Palestine Pulse – Most are
ripped from their beds in the middle of the night. Others are taken
while playing in the street, or leaving school. Many are blindfolded
and shackled on their way to interrogation, which lasts for several
hours at a time, all without a lawyer or family member present. Many
are beaten, verbally abused, and pressured to sign confessions for
crimes they didn’t commit.
The experience of Israeli arrest, interrogation and detention causes
severe psychological damage, and leaves lasting scars on Palestinian
detainees, their families and communities. It is especially traumatic,
however, for the over 7,500 Palestinian children under the age of 18
that have been arrested by the Israeli authorities since 2000.
by Anna Lekas, Daily Beast – Monday night, a march of extremist Israeli
settlers took over the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem,
filling the streets with Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers
enforcing a strictly “Jews only” policy on the streets of the Muslim
Quarter that put the nearly 30,000 Palestinian residents of the Muslim
Quarter under curfew until the march was over.
This follows a week of attacks of this nature on Al-Aqsa Mosque—the
third most holy site in Islam just a few meters away from the Dome of
the Rock, the iconic golden crowning glory of Jerusalem.
News Black-Out and Political Farce
Over Jerusalem Clashes
By Dr. Daud Abdullah, Middle East Monitor – Despite their
ferocity, last Friday’s clashes in the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa
failed to make international headlines. The virtual news black-out was
indicative of prevailing attitudes towards Jerusalem as a whole.
Palestinian officials argue, and rightly so, that even the Arab media
is complicit in this neglect. With every outrage committed in Al-Aqsa
Mosque tensions rise to boiling point, evoking memories of September
2000 when Ariel Sharon ignited the second intifada with his provocative
incursion into the Mosque compound.
Palestinians in Gaza March to
Denounce Attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque
Aletejah TV – Massive crowds of Palestinians held a rally in Gaza City
on Friday to denounce Israeli settler attacks against holy sites in
Jerusalem and to call for a serious mobilization to save the Holy City.
Police Enter Jerusalem Holy Site and
Disperse Palestinian Protesters
Reuters – Israeli police fired stun grenades to disperse Palestinian
worshippers who had thrown rocks and firebombs at them after Friday
prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, police
said.
Dozens of officers entered the politically sensitive area, one of
Islam’s holiest sites to break up several hundred protesters.
Occupation Army Attacks Student
Solidarity Vigil in Jerusalem
By Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies – Dozens of Israeli soldiers and
police officers, attacked on Wednesday evening, Palestinian students at
the Hebrew University, near Al-Esawiyya town, in occupied East
Jerusalem, as they were holding a vigil in support of Palestinian
detainees holding hunger strike in Israeli prisons. Three students have
been kidnapped.
Occupation Forces Palestinian to
Demolish His Own Home
Middle East Monitor – Israel’s Municipality of Jerusalem has forced a
Palestinian citizen to demolish his own home which was located in the
Occupied Old City of Jerusalem.
The demolition order against the home was issued by an Israeli court on
the grounds that that building had been constructed without a permit.
Two female teachers on their way to a shiva in Jerusalem were assaulted
by haredi youths who pelted their car with stones and shattered one of
its windows.One assailant was identified by one of the teachers and was
promptly arrested. Later, the two were attacked again when the tires on
their car had been punctured.
"Youth Against Settlements" Launch
Campaign in Jerusalem
By Badia Dwaik – The group “Youth Against Settlements,” which protests
against the situation in Hebron including the closure, destruction and
curfew in Shuhada Street, has started a campaign to hang up hundreds of
posters with the Open Shuhada Street logo all around Jerusalem,
including the Western Wall and Israeli Government offices.
Soldiers Assault Palestinians, Remove
Woman's Veil at al-Aqsa Mosque
PNN – On Wednesday 6th March, Al-Aqsa Association for Waqf and Heritage
said in a press statement that Israeli settlers and soldiers stormed
al-Aqsa mosque and assaulted several Palestinian worshipers in clashes
erupted at the mosque’s courtyards.
Raed Salah to Obama: Don't Visit
al-Aqsa Mosque
By Hassan Shaalan, Yediot Ahronot – Two weeks before Barack Obama’s
expected arrival in Israel, Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic
Movement’s northern branch, warned of the possible implications of the
president’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Dozens of the movement’s supporters demonstrated outside the US Embassy
in Tel Aviv and called on Obama to avoid entering the Temple Mount with
an Israeli escort.
By Patrick O. Strickland, Bikya News – Israeli MK Moshe Feiglin was
removed from the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem, reports Israeli daily
Jerusalem Post. Following his attempt to enter the Dome of the Rock,
Israeli police had to remove him from the site and it was closed off to
visitors.
Feiglin is a member of the right-wing Likud-Beitenu party. In the past,
he has supported a call for the expulsion of the Palestinian citizens
of Israel who do not sufficiently prove their loyalty to Israel. In
November 2012, he authored a political platform that called for Israel
to “restore…complete sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount,”
where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located.
Ahram Online – An Israeli officer attacked Palestinian female students
inside Al-Aqsa Mosque and desecrated a copy of the Holy Quran,
according to Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage.
“One of the Israeli officers located inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa
Mosque attacked two students from a girls’ school near Buraq Mosque
next to the Mughrabi Gate,” the media department chief at the
Foundation Mahmoud Abu Atta said.
By Adiv Sterman, The Times of Israel – Fifty-six “price tag” attacks
against Palestinians occurred in Jerusalem and the surrounding area
over the past year, police reported Sunday, but charges have yet to be
filed against a single suspect in any of the incidents.
According to the report, in only 12 of the incidents were suspects
detained.
The number of incidents marks a 100 percent rise since 2011, when 28
cases were recorded, police said.
Palestinians Protest Against
Apartheid Marathon in Jerusalem
Press TV – Palestinians held a bike-racing event in the West Bank in
protest against an Israeli marathon being held in Jerusalem-al Quds.
The planning committee organized the event to ride from al Azarya to
Jericho. The ride was planned along the Israeli settler route from
coupsa to Ma’ale Adumim, which has been closed off to Palestinians.
A further action was held in Jerusalem al Quds to counter the Israeli
marathon. The youth in the demonstration handed out papers to
participants in the marathon to portray Tel Aviv’s human rights abuses
and Israeli policies such as settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Extremists Attack Palestinian Woman
And Rip Off Her Hijab
Al-Akhbar – A Palestinian woman waiting at a light rail station in
Jerusalem on Monday was attacked and stripped of her headscarf by
religious Jewish women, Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv reported Tuesday.
According to bystanders, a young Jewish woman punched the Palestinian
suddenly as she was passing by the station. A friend of the assailant
began aiding her in beating the Palestinian, pushing her against the
wall, and ultimately ripping off her headscarf.
EU Report Slams Settlements, Calls
For Economic Sanctions
RT – An internal report by the European Union has come down hard on
Israel’s decision to continue settlement construction in occupied East
Jerusalem, threatening to end economic projects that involve the Jewish
settlements.
The harshly worded 15-page report provides recommendations to the 27
member-states for responding to Israel’s activities in the occupied
territories – which the document described as “systematic, deliberate
and provocative” – and endorses a strategy that aims at “making it
impossible for Jerusalem to become the capital of two states.”
New Protest Tent Challenging
Evictions in East Jerusalem
By Andrew Beale, The Electronic Intifada – On 8 February, a tent was
set up in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem to
protest against the evictions being undertaken by Israel.
Erecting such tents is a currently popular tactic in the Palestinians’
struggle against occupation and apartheid. In the last six weeks, at
least five “tent cities” have gone up in the West Bank, including Bab
al-Shams, erected in opposition to plans to develop Israeli settlements
in the “E-1” area between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale
Adumim.
Occupation Attacks and Kidnaps
Palestinians in Jerusalem
By Saed Bannoura, IMEMC News – The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf
(Endowment) and Heritage, reported that dozens of Israeli soldiers
invaded the yards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem,
violently attacked several Palestinian youths, and kidnapped four.
Occupation Announces Confiscating
Lands in Jerusalem
(PIC)-- Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians' Rights in
Jerusalem warned of the occupation authorities' intention to confiscate
lands and expand settlements, within the policies of judaizing
Jerusalem.
According to a statement issued by the coalition on Saturday, Israel
Land Administration (ILA) announced its intention to confiscate lands
for settlement expansion, including the land on which the Cliff hotel
is build; an area of 2975 square meters.
Palestinians Protest as Hunger
Strikers in Hospital
Palestinians demanding the release of hunger-striking prisoners clashed
with Israelis in the West Bank and east Jerusalem on Friday, as three
fasting inmates were taken to hospitals.
Around 2,000 Palestinians marched in the northern West Bank city of
Nablus, while protesting worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in
Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem threw stones at police, a police
spokesman told AFP.
Al Jazeera – Palestinian hunger striker Samer Issawi has appeared in an
Israeli court, where his lawyers attempted to get him released on bail,
as hundreds protest across the West Bank.
Gaunt and wheelchair-bound, Issawi appeared on Tuesday before a
Jerusalem civil court, which deferred releasing him for at least
another month.
Palestine News Network – On Monday 18th February, the Israeli
municipality of Jerusalem demolished a house belonging to the
Palestinian family, Abu Safa, in Beit Hanina, a neighborhood north of
Jerusalem, under the pretext of building without an authorization.
Message from Samer el Issawi, Day 209
Hunger Strike
"I turn with admiration to the masses of our heroic Palestinian people,
to our Palestinian leadership, to all forces, parties and national
institutions. I salute them for standing by our fight to defend our
right to freedom and dignity.
I draw my strength from my people, from all the free people in the
world, from friends and the families of the prisoners who continue day
and night chanting for freedom and an end to the occupation.
My health has deteriorated dramatically and I’m hung between life and
death. My weak body is collapsing but still able to be patient and
continue the confrontation. My message is that I will continue until
the end, until the last drop of water in my body, until martyrdom.
Martyrdom is an honor for me in this battle. My martyrdom is my
remaining bomb in the confrontation with the tyrants and the jailers,
in the face of the racist policy of the occupation that humiliates our
people and exercises against us all means of oppression and repression.
02-16-2013
Seven Palestinians Kidnapped in
Jerusalem
IMEMC & Agencies – Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Friday evening,
seven Palestinians during clashes that took place after the army
invaded Be’er Ayyoub neighborhood, in Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa
Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
Local sources reported that the army broke into and searched several
homes that belong to the Al-Rweidy, Al-Rajaby, and Shweiky families,
and attacked three women of Al-Rweidy family causing minor injuries and
panic among the children.
The sources said that the kidnapped residents have been identified as
Ahmad Rweidy, 19, his brothers Khader, 28, and Kanaan, 26, their
relative Haider Rweidy, 35, Younis Shweiky, Ziad Al-Rajaby, and
Mohammad Al-Rajaby.
Agence France Presse – Suspected Jewish extremists scrawled anti-Arab
graffiti on the headstones in an ancient Muslim cemetery in west
Jerusalem, police and witnesses told AFP on Thursday.
“The words ‘price tag’ and Stars of David were scrawled on around a
dozen tombs in the Muslim cemetery in Mamilla in central Jerusalem,” a
police spokeswoman told AFP, saying an inquiry had been opened.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said the vandals had also written
“Mohammed is dead” and “Maale Rehavam” on the tombs some of which date
back to the 12th century.
Palestinians Protest New Apartheid
Road Dividing East Jerusalem Village
By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours, Al-Monitor – Shouting “No, no, no to Road
4” and walking hand in hand, hundreds of Palestinian children, men and
women poured into a fenced-in Israeli construction site in Beit Safafa
Sunday, Feb. 10 in protest of an Israeli roadway residents say will
destroy their village.
“Everything is going to be changed. It’s not going to be the same Beit
Safafa I know, so of course I’m going to be against it because it’s not
logical,” said 25-year-old resident and protest organizer Duaa Subhi.
“It will be like the separation wall in the West Bank, but inside the
village.”
Israel Begins Work on Magharba Gate
Bridge in Jerusalem
(WAFA) – Work began Tuesday on a section of the controversial Magharba
Gate wooden bridge that leads to al-Haram al-Sharif, one of Islam’s
most sacred sites, in Jerusalem’s Old City, according to witnesses.
The work is believed to be a prelude to the construction of a more
permanent steel bridge that is supposed to eventually replace the
wooden bridge.
Dozens of Israeli Soldiers Break Into
the Aqsa Mosque
(PIC)-- Dozens of Israeli army soldiers stormed the Aqsa mosque on
Tuesday morning as the Aqsa Foundation warned of the escalation in such
acts.
Israeli intelligence agents accompanied 51 soldiers who entered the
Aqsa in two batches and toured its Qibli mosque, Marwani mosque, and
the Dome of the Rock. Eight Jewish settlers also broke into the Aqsa
plazas.
(PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) are planning the
confiscation of more Jerusalemite land to build a new road serving
Jewish settlers.
The local committee for construction and planning announced on Tuesday
that a meeting would be held on Wednesday to discuss the expropriation
of land in Beit Hanina suburb, north of occupied Jerusalem.
MK Tibi Joins Protest Against East
Jerusalem Highway
(Ma'an) -- Palestinian MK Ahmad Tibi joined hundreds of protestors on
Sunday to demonstrate against the construction of a highway in an East
Jerusalem neighborhood.
Protestors in Beit Safafa formed a human chain and set up tents to
protest the construction of Road 4, which would confiscate part of the
neighborhood's land and divide the area in two.
(PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) demolished in the late
hours of Friday evening a protest tent in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood
set up by Shamasneh family in protest against the decision to evict
them from their home early next month.
The IOF has demolished and confiscated at 11pm the protest tent in
Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, before withdrawing, Shamasneh family
explained to Wadi al-Hilweh Information Center.
Shamasneh family has set up a protest tent outside their house in
Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood against the decision to evacuate the
family's home for the benefit of settlers.
Historic Buildings Around Al-Aqsa
Continue to be Demolished
*Israeli bulldozers are demolishing
historic arches and facades of Islamic buildings dating back to the
Mamluk and Ottoman eras.
(MEMO)--For the third day in a row, Israeli bulldozers are demolishing
historic arches and facades of Islamic buildings dating back to the
Mamluk and Ottoman eras on the north side of Buraq Square. The site
lies just 50 metres from the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa.
150 activists turned out in solidarity on February 8 to erect a protest
tent outside a Palestinian house in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem.
All ten members of the Shamasna family living inside the house have
been told by Israeli authorities to leave by March 1 or face forced
eviction. They are the fifth family to face expulsion in the
neighbourhood during the current eviction phase that the Israeli
authorities have initiated.
Reuters – Israeli border police demolished on Tuesday (February 5) a
two-floor building in East Jerusalem housing 24 members of an extended
Palestinian family.
“They are demolishing because they say there is no permit to build, and
here live around 45, old and young people, and they didn’t even give us
a chance to move the clothes from the house,” said Saleh Abu Castairo,
resident of the house that was demolished.
Occupation Bulldozers Demolish
Ancient Islamic Structures in Jerusalem
Palestine News Network – Heritage said that the Occupation bulldozers
continue, for the second day, their demolition of the facades and
arches of a historic building on the North side of Buraq Square, about
50 meters from al-Aqsa Mosque by the Western Wall. The Foundation
reported that most of the demolition is now complete.
(PIC)-- MK Moshe Feiglin, from the Likud
Beiteinu party, stormed Al Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday at 1:30 pm, guarded
by the occupation forces, Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage
reported.
Al-Aqsa mosque witnessed a state of alert by the occupation forces,
while hundreds of Muslim worshipers, Jerusalemites, residents of
1948-occupied territories and students gathered in al-Aqsa mosque
Squares expressing their anger and rejection of such raids.
20,000 Children Separated From
Families in Occupied Jerusalem
02-05-2013
By Nasouh Nazzal, Gulf News – The Islamic Christian Commission for the
Support of occupied Jerusalem has accused Israel of separating 20,000
Palestinian children from their families by denying them permission to
live with their families in occupied East Jerusalem.
Speaking to Gulf News, Dr Hanna Eisa, who heads the commission, said
that in denying the Palestinian children the right to live with their
families, Israel is engaged in a clear act of ethnic cleansing of the
holy city. “Those kids have also been denied the right to obtain
permanent residency to unite with their families in the holy city,” he
said.
Occupation Cracks Down on
Palestinians in Jerusalem
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz – Changes at the top of the Jerusalem District
police are being felt in the eastern part of the capital. Palestinian
residents in East Jerusalem have complained that the police, under New
district commander Maj. Gen. Yossi Prienti, have been implementing an
almost declared policy of collective punishment against neighborhoods
considered too disruptive.
Two weeks ago such an enforcement/punishment operation ended in Isawiya
in north Jerusalem, and a week ago a new operation started in Silwan.
The operations included numerous arrests, roadblocks to inspect
vehicles, tax collection, house demolitions, shutting off water,
various fines, searches and random checks of identification, and more.
Quds Media Center – Researcher Amr Jamal said that the movie, published
by Israeli Foreign Ministry and which shows the demolition of the Dome
of the Rock and the establishment of the alleged Temple on its ruins,
reflects the practical steps applied on the ground to achieve this
purpose.
The Palestinian researcher specialized in Jerusalem affairs told Quds
Press that the occupation authorities had completed the preparation of
all architectural plans for the construction of the alleged Temple.
Agence France Presse – Nine people were injured and seven arrested in
the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on Monday after clashes
broke out as Israeli forces demolished several structures, local
activists told AFP.
“Bulldozers demolished two structures and some parts of a house and
they also uprooted trees,” activist Fakri Abu Diab said. “Clashes
erupted and nine people were injured, including a woman who was shot by
a rubber bullet inside her house and taken to Makassed hospital for
treatment,” he said, adding that seven people were arrested.
By Ori Lewis, Reuters – An Israeli soccer club notorious for the
anti-Arab chants of its fans plans to recruit two Muslim players,
fuelling protests in the stands that a senior cabinet minister
condemned as shocking and racist.
At a Premier League game on Saturday, Beitar Jerusalem supporters held
a banner reading “Beitar will always remain pure”. Other signs hoisted
by fans also protested against its owner’s intention to have two Muslim
Chechen players join.
01-25-2013
Extremists' Attack on Palestinian
Children on Jerusalem Bus
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz – At least three passengers on a public bus in
Jerusalem harassed a group of Arab sixth-graders on their way home from
school this week, with one woman calling them monkeys, issuing death
threats, and hitting one of the girls and pulling her hair, according
to the girl’s father.
Ayub, the father, said his daughter has grown accustomed to verbal
abuse while passing through Jewish neighborhoods, but that this was the
first time she was physically assaulted. He said only one passenger
came to the children’s defense and asked the woman to desist.
Aqsa foundation: The IOA stepped up
its diggings in Maghariba area
(PIC)-- Al-Aqsa foundation for endowment and
heritage said that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) intensified
its excavations at Al-Maghariba Gate ramp to the west of the Aqsa
Mosque.
In a report, the foundation stated that the IOF raised the number of
diggers and their working hours, and expanded the area of its
excavations.
More Occupation Desecration of
Historical Islamic Cemetery in Jerusalem
(MEMO) Israel is continuing to desecrate the Ma'man Allah Muslim
cemetery in Jerusalem, with a new wave of construction on the historic
site. Details were revealed by Al-Aqsa Foundation for Religious
Endowment and Heritage on Monday.
The foundation reported that Israeli bulldozers are digging to a depth
of 15 metres at the cemetery to build what they call a "Museum of
Tolerance". The project covers around 6 acres of the site and is being
sponsored by the US based Simon Wiesenthal Centre. Other parts of the
cemetery have been destroyed to build a coffee shop and storage rooms
for the construction workers. Many headstones have been destroyed, some
dating back almost 1,400 years.
Occupation Plans to Cage E1 Area With
Separation Wall
By Patrick O. Strickland, Bikya News – On Monday it was announced that
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to alter the route of
Israel’s separation wall to cut Palestinians off from the E1 Area of
the West Bank, Ha’aretz reports. The fence will run between Jerusalem
and Ma’ale Adomim, the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and
will block villagers from the neighboring Al-Za’im from the E1 Area.
By Nasouh Nazzal, Gulf News – The Palestinian
Higher Sharia Judicial Council has demanded that candidates running for
the Israeli general elections should remove Al Aqsa Compound (Al Haram
Al Sharif) in the occupied East Jerusalem from their election campaigns
as the holy site should not be used to make electoral gains.
According to the council’s chairman and head of the Palestinian Sharia
Higher Court, Shaikh Yousuf Dowais, the use of Al Aqsa Compound (Al
Haram Al Sharif) in electoral campaigns constitutes a violation of
international law.
Shaikh Dowais has strongly denounced the call of Jeremy Gimpel, one of
Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home), an Israeli hard line party running in
the Israeli elections, for the total destruction of the Dome of the
Rock, a central part of Al Aqsa Compound (Al Haram Al Sharif) and one
of the holiest sites for Muslims, and its replacement with a rebuilding
of the Temple of Solomon, which Jews believe lies beneath the Dome of
the Rock and Al Aqsa.
When the Palestinian leadership won their upgrade to non-member
observer status at the United Nations in November, plenty of sceptics
on both sides of the divide questioned what practical benefits would
accrue to the Palestinians. The doubters have not been silenced yet.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has done little to
capitalise on his diplomatic success. There have been vague threats to
"isolate" Israel, hesitant talk of "not ruling out" a referral to the
International Criminal Court, and a low-key declaration by the
Palestinian Authority of the new "state of Palestine".
At a time when Palestinians hoped for a watershed moment in their
struggle for national liberation, the Fatah and Hamas leaderships look
as mutually self-absorbed as ever. Last week they were again directing
their energies into a new round of reconciliation talks, this time in
Cairo, rather than keeping the spotlight on Israeli intransigence.
So instead, it was left to a group of 250 ordinary Palestinians to show
how the idea of a "state of Palestine" might be given practical
meaning. On Friday, they set up a tent encampment that they intended to
convert into a new Palestinian village called Bab al-Shams, or Gate of
the Sun.
Eviction of Bab al Shams Exposes
Israel as a Lawless State
The Bab Al Shams protest village before it was forcibly evacuated by
Israeli forces. (Issam Rimawi / APA images)
Max Blumenthal –Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clearly
troubled by the establishment of Bab Al Shams, a Palestinian protest
village erected on privately-owned Palestinian land, the planned route
of what Israel calls the “E-1” corridor in the occupied West Bank.
The E-1 area was to be capstone of Israel’s settler-colonial
enterprise, a long segment of housing units expanding east from the
Jews-only mega-settlement of Maale Adumim, permanently severing East
Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and virtually slicing the West
Bank in half. And now, 400 Palestinians and their supporters stood
directly in the way of the plan.
E1, WEST BANK // Israel's prime minister yesterday shrugged off weekend
Palestinian protests over the construction of a Jewish settlement that
would sever the West Bank in half and prevent the creation a
continguous Palestinian state, vowing to press on building new settler
homes in a critical area.
Speaking to Israel's army radio, Benjamin Netanyahu insisted "there
will be construction" of a new settlement in an empty stretch of land,
known as E1, which could cut off Palestinians in the West Bank from
their desired capital in East Jerusalem. His government expedited plans
for 3,000 homes in the area last month, seen as punishment for the
Palestinian upgrade in the United Nations as a non-member-observer
state.
By Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian – The Israeli state has swung into
action against a group of Palestinian activists who established a tent
village on a rocky hillside east of Jerusalem, with hundreds of
security officials carrying out an eviction under the orders of the
prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, in the early hours of Sunday
morning.
According to activists, a large military force surrounded the
encampment at around 3am. All protesters were arrested and six were
injured, said Abir Kopty.
On Saturday evening, Netanyahu demanded the Israeli supreme court
overturn an injunction preventing the removal of the protesters, and
ordered the area to be declared a closed military zone.
Palestinians Reclaim Land Slated for
Zionist Settlement, Create New Village
Al-Akhbar – Palestinians Friday morning inaugurated a tent village
named Bab al-Shams in an area near Jerusalem referred to by Israelis as
E1, defying an immediate eviction notice from the Israeli civil
administration and military.
The group is entitled to a six day grace period before they are
required to apply for a permit, according to a High Court ruling.
Lawyers had been awarded an injunction earlier in the day to preempt
the eviction.
“We won’t budge. We will remain steadfast with the will of God,” one of
the village coordinators, Abdullah Abu Rahmeh told Al-Akhbar.
Solidarity Sit-In for Palestinian
Prisoners at al-Aqsa Mosque
By Occupied Palestine – Jerusalemite citizens participated on Thursday
in a sit-in in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails,
after the Asr prayer inside the al-Aqsa Mosque, despite the cold and
snow waves in all Palestinian towns and villages.
The participants held pictures of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli
jails as well as the prisoners on hunger strike, and banners reading
slogans in solidarity with the prisoners, stressing on the prisoners’
right to achieve all their demands.
Building Approval Binge in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem-area settlement of Ma'ale Adumim (Photo: Ammar
Awad/Reuters)
(by Alex Kane) The contentious plan to build in the E1 corridor
has been put on hold for now. The reason? Forging ahead with the plan
would do irrevocable damage to Israel’s worldwide image and spark
international consternation at a time when Israel needs Western
support. But at the same time, a building approval binge has taken
place in other areas in Jerusalem.
Settlers attack on the Mosque of the
Prophet Daud in Jerusalem
(PIC)-- For the second time in two weeks, Israeli settlers stormed the
historical Mosque of the Prophet Daud in Jerusalem, and they broke the
ceramic and marble tiles covering three walls. The tiles date back to
the 17th century.
The incident sparked widespread anger and condemnation amongst those
concerned with holy places in Jerusalem, especially that it is not the
first time the mosque is attacked. The occupation authorities have
already seized the mosque and turned its first floor into a Jewish
synagogue.
Ethnic cleansing is the only way for
Israel to have a "united" Jerusalem
(Middle East Monitor)
When Benjamin Netanyahu launched his election campaign this week he
taunted the world community and cocked a snook at international law
with a defiant pledge to build more settlements in occupied Jerusalem.
The move was universally condemned. Recognising that this was more than
electoral demagogy, though, no one was prepared to risk the
consequences of any response more substantial. For better or worse,
Jerusalem's future is now set to determine the course of international
relations.
Israel's surge of settlement activity in Jerusalem seeks, above all, to
perpetuate its self-proclaimed "basic law" on Jerusalem. Passed in July
1980, this legal construct envisaged an "integral and united Jerusalem"
as the capital of Israel.
The Second Half of 2012: More
Demolitions, Arrests, and Attacks Against the Citizens of Jerusalem
SILWANIC – The city of Jerusalem witnessed yet another year of the
occupation and is greeting new year empty of hope. This hopelessness is
a result of the ongoing oppression, settlements and projects to make
Jerusalem a Jewish-only city, and of the ongoing arrests, attacks,
house demolitions and financial fines against the Palestinian citizens
in Jerusalem.
In the report issued by The Information Center of Wadi Hilweh about the
last 6 months of 2012, most of the attacks against Palestinians in
Jerusalem were highlighted, as well attacks on their property and holy
places. The report included information about the arrests, the
demolitions, the attacks, the settlements, the expulsion from the Aqsa
Mosque and the forcible shutting down of Palestinian organizations.
Jerusalem's "Extreme Makeover" and
"Perilous Decline"
By Scott Lucas, Enduring America – The announcement of significant new
Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem has put the spotlight
on the city, but the changes it has undergone since 2000, when the
parties first negotiated its fate, are far broader and have far deeper
roots. Israelis, Palestinians and the international community must
adjust their strategies accordingly, or Arab East Jerusalem will
continue its perilous decline, with catastrophic consequences for all…
A pair of companion reports from the International Crisis Group
describes how East Jerusalem has been altered in recent years,
physically, but also socially, politically and emotionally.
Occupation Approves Another 1,200
Settlement Units Around Jerusalem
By Peter Beaumont, The Guardian – Israel has given the green light for
the fast-track development of a further 1,200 settlement units around
Jerusalem. It brings the total number of new approvals to 5,500 in just
over a week, the largest wave of proposed expansion in recent memory.
The latest plan, which would see almost 1,000 new apartments built over
Jerusalem’s green line in Gilo, comes as the Israeli media is reporting
mounting pressure on the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, to drop
his commitment to a two-state solution from his platform for
re-election in January.
Israeli soldiers, and personnel of the Jerusalem City Council,
distributed Sunday new orders against a number of Palestinian homes in
occupied East Jerusalem.
Local sources reported that the army invaded As-Sowwana neighborhood,
near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, and imposed a tight siege
on the area before posting the warrants on the doors of several homes
under the pretext that they were built without construction permits.
Associated Press – Israel’s prime minister has vowed to build in
Jerusalem despite criticism from the United Nations, dismissing the
international body in particularly strong terms.
Four EU Nations to Condemn
Occupation's Settlement Plans
Reuters – European nations in the 15-member United Nations Security
Council are set to jointly condemn Israel over its plans for Jewish
settler homes in east Jerusalem, a European diplomatic source said on
Tuesday.
Israel approved plans for a further 1,500 homes on Monday after
provoking international protests earlier this month against a project
for another 3,000 such homes in a sensitive area known as E1.
15 Injured by IOF Fire in Jerusalem,
Five Kidnapped
By Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies –
Palestinian medical sources reported, on Friday evening, that 15
Palestinians have been injured by Israeli military fire in Al-Esawiyya
town, in occupied East Jerusalem, and five residents have been
kidnapped after the army invaded the area and conducted provocative
acts against the residents.
Local sources reported that hundreds of residents were holding a
nonviolent procession in solidarity with Palestinian detainees on
hunger strike in Israeli prisons.
The sources added that the soldiers violently assaulted the nonviolent
protesters after the army invaded the area, and issue that led to
clashes with the soldiers.
Extremist Settlers Write Racist
Graffiti on Christian Monastery
by Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies – A number of extremist Israeli
settlers wrote, on Wednesday at dawn, racist graffiti attacking
Christianity and Jesus Christ on the walls of a monastery in occupied
Jerusalem, the WAFA News Agency reported.
The graffiti written on the walls of the monastery included “Price
Tag”, and several insults against Jesus Christ. The settlers also
punctured the tires of three vehicles parked near the monastery.
The attack is part of numerous attacks targeting churches, mosques and
even graveyards in different parts of occupied Palestine, including
occupied Jerusalem.
Occupation Escalates its Excavations
Around al-Aqsa
(PIC)-- Zaki Igbaria, head of "Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and
heritage" in 1948-occupied Palestine, warned of the expansion of
occupation's excavations down and around the vicinity of Al Aqsa
Mosque, and specifically in the region of the Umayyad palaces located
in the southern side of Al-Aqsa.
Tension Mounts in East Jerusalem as
the Occupation Prepares Settlement Construction
Haaretz
– Israel is continuing to take apparent retaliatory measures in wake of
the United Nations decision last week to accept Palestine as a
non-member observer state.
In
the Palestinian Jerusalem neighborhood A-Tur, tensions escalated on
Tuesday after bulldozers arrived to demolish a home located in the
premises of a designated national park. The local families’ lawyer has
won a delay in the slated demolition.
In
two weeks, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee will
discuss a controversial plan to build 1,700 homes in the East Jerusalem
Jewish neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, in the north of the capital. The
committee will reconvene the following day in an emergency session to
approve another project, this one for hundreds of homes in Givat
Hamatos, a Jewish neighborhood in the south of the city. It too is
located on the other side of the Green Line. In addition, after a
two-year hiatus during which the Interior Ministry demolished no homes,
this week supervisors from the ministry began patrols in Arab East
Jerusalem in preparation for resuming the destruction of illegally
built homes.
For First Time Britain, France May
Recall Ambassadors in Protest at Occupation's Settlement
Construction
By By Barak Ravid, Haaretz – Moves against Israel will be made in next
the few days following Netanyahu’s decision to move ahead on
construction in E1 and build 3,000 housing units in settlement blocs
east of Jerusalem, say senior European diplomats.
Britain and France are poised to take action − possibly including the
unprecedented step of recalling their ambassadors, according to senior
European diplomats − in protest at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
decision to move settlement construction ahead in the area known as E1,
between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem.
“This time it won’t just be a condemnation, there will be real action
taken against Israel,” a senior European diplomat said.
After UN Vote, Netanyahu Authorizes
New Building in Settlements
By Joel Greenberg, The Washington Post – Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized construction of 3,000 new homes and
planning for thousands more in West Bank settlements and in East
Jerusalem, a senior government official said Friday, a day after the
United Nations voted to upgrade the Palestinians’ status there to an
observer state.
The move, a first Israeli response to the decision by the international
body, drew sharp denunciations from Palestinian officials and a rebuke
from Washington, which had backed Israel at the United Nations. Critics
said planned building near Jerusalem would cut links between the
northern and southern West Bank, seriously damaging prospects for a
viable Palestinian state.
Vatican Hails UN Palestinian State
Vote, Calls for Special Status for Jerusalem
Reuters – The Vatican hailed the United Nations’ implicit recognition
of a Palestinian state on Thursday and called for an internationally
guaranteed special status for Jerusalem, something bound to irritate
Israel.
The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a
resolution to upgrade the Palestinian Authority’s observer status at
the United Nations from “entity” to “non-member state,” the same status
as the Vatican.
Occupation Arrests Palestinians and
Further Limits Access to Holy Site
Al-Jazeera – Israel has restricted Palestinian access to the Al-Aqsa
mosque compound and arrested six Hamas members, a day after one
Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire along the Gaza-Israel border.
The shooting tested a tenious ceasefire agreement signed by Hamas-led
Gaza and Israel on Wednesday night.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party are preparing for a
primary on Sunday amid signs its popularity is slipping among Israelis
who would have preferred a ground invasion of the Hamas-controlled Gaza
Strip.
Occupation to Evict Bedouin in
Jerusalem to Make Room for a Waste Landfill
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz – The Jerusalem municipality plans to evict some
120 Bedouin from the eastern part of the city to make room for a
landfill.
The city says the 500-dunam dump, which will be located in a wadi below
a road leading east from the city to the West Bank settlement of
Ma’aleh Adumim, will handle construction waste from the entire
Jerusalem area.
The landfill is expected to completely fill the wadi in about 20 years,
after which the plan calls for building a public park atop it.
Zionist Mayor Wants IOF Headquarters
Moved to Jerusalem
*photo: Rick Sterling
Israel HaYom – Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is promoting a plan to
transfer the Israel Defense Forces General Staff headquarters from the
Kirya complex in Tel Aviv to a location just outside the Jerusalem
neighborhood of Ramot. According to the proposed plan, an upscale
neighborhood encompassing 734 housing units and a country club will be
constructed near the base to accommodate soldiers and officers
stationed there.
European Nations Slam Occupation's
Plan to Building New Housing in Palestine
By Anshel Pfeffer, The Associated Press and
Haaretz – Governments of a number of European states came out on
Wednesday against the tenders recently issued by Israel’s Housing
Ministry for the construction of new housing units across the Green
Line in Jerusalem and in West Bank settlements.
Criticizing Israel’s decision to go ahead with the construction of more
than 1,200 new homes, Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said
in a statement that Germany expects all sides in the Middle East
conflict “to refrain from anything that will make the resumption of
negotiations more difficult.”
Occupation Pushes Forward With 1,200
Homes in East Jerusalem Settlements
Associated Press in Jerusalem – Israel says it is pushing forward with
the construction of more than 1,200 new homes in Jewish settlements, in
an apparent warning to the Palestinians to rethink their plan to ask
the United Nations to recognise an independent state of Palestine.
The Israeli government announced late on Monday that it was accepting
bids from contractors to build the homes in two Jewish enclaves in East
Jerusalem, Ramot and Pisgat Zeev. The homes are among 1,200 whose
construction Israel ordered to be fast-tracked in November 2011 after a
key UN body granted full membership to Palestine.
Family Leaves East Jerusalem Home
After Settler Attack
Ma’an – Jewish settlers on Monday attacked a
Palestinian family in East Jerusalem, forcing them from their homes,
the family said.
Mahmoud Abu al-Hawa told Ma’an the settlers smashed the windows of his
home in al-Tur and ransacked his elderly mother’s room, causing her to
pass out, he said.
Jerusalem Patriarchate Threatens to
Close Holy Sepulchre
Al-Akhbar – Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox patriarch Theophilis III has
threatened to close the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to protest
Israel’s freezing of the patriarchate’s bank accounts.
The patriarchate has owed the city’s municipality $2.3 million shekels
since it sidestepped a centuries’ old payment exemption on places of
worship and started billing the church for water.
Agence France Presse – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
yesterday pledged to continue unhindered construction in Jerusalem,
including in its annexed eastern sector, despite criticism from the
European Union.
“We are not putting any limitations on building in Jerusalem, it is our
capital,” he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
“The same way that (states) build in every capital—London, Paris,
Washington, Moscow—Israel builds in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said. “Our
bond to our capital is no less ancient and powerful.”
The interior ministry on Thursday gave final approval for plans to
build 797 homes in Gilo, a settlement neighbourhood in the southern
flanks of East Jerusalem on land seized during the 1967 Middle East war
and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international
community.
Occupation Approves Expansion of
Settlement Near Jerusalem
Reuters – Israel on Thursday issued a detailed plan for the building of
some 800 new homes on annexed land in the West Bank that is certain to
attract further international condemnation of its settlement policies.
A planning committee issued a call for bids from contractors to start
building 797 housing units on the western slopes of the urban
settlement of Gilo, an area that Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East
war and later declared part of Jerusalem.
The annexation has never been recognized internationally.
Middle East Monitor
– On the 43rd anniversary of the arson attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque by an
Israeli extremist, Al-Quds International Institution has issued a
report detailing the increasing number of Israeli assaults against the
Noble Sanctuary. Observers believe that are all part of Israel’s
“Judaisation” programme for the Holy City and Islamic religious sites.
The report, which covers the year to 21 August 2012, shows a clear
increase in the scale of Judaisation activities. So much so that the
Institution says that the situation needs national, regional and
international action to stop Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa and the
city of Jerusalem.
By Saed Bannoura, IMEMC News – Last Friday, several Israeli policemen,
in full riot gear, violently attacked and punched a Palestinian child
from Jerusalem and kidnapped him. The child was released Tuesday and
was placed under house arrest.
A video captured by Palestinian cameraman, Amjad Arafa, shows several
Israeli policemen forcing the child, Hasan Al-Afeefy, onto the ground,
face down, while one policeman was punching him to the head and another
policeman holding the child’s hand behind his back to cuff him.
Occupation Forces 'Deploy at Al-Aqsa
After Clashes'
Ma’an
– Hundreds of Israeli forces deployed around the al-Aqsa Mosque
compound on Sunday morning, a local foundation said, as tensions
continued at the Jerusalem religious site amid Jewish holidays.
Israeli troops confiscated the identity documents of worshipers in
al-Aqsa and ordered a large number of youth to leave the compound, the
Al-Aqsa Foundation for Heritage and Islamic Endowments said.
Occupation Forces Fire Stun Grenades
at Stone Throwing Worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque
RT –
Israeli police have stormed the world’s third-holiest Islamic site and
fired stun grenades at worshipers in response to being pelted with
stones. Two people have been injured and one arrested as a result of
the scuffle.
Ma’an
– Worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem’s Old City
clashed with a Jewish group touring the holy site on Thursday,
officials said.
The Al-Aqsa Foundation for the Islamic Waqf and Heritage said around
140 Israelis toured the mosque, sparking physical and verbal scuffles
with Muslims praying at the compound.
With the so-called "peace process" going nowhere, mainly due to Israeli
refusal to give up territories it illegally occupies, and also to US
unwillingness and/or inability to pressure Israel do so, the Israeli
government continues to make provocations and "create facts" aimed at
destroying all remaining chances for peace.
This week, Israeli authorities allowed a large number of fanatical
Jewish settlers to enter and tour Al-Aqsa Mosque's esplanade. The
settlers, dressed in religious attire and wearing kippa head-caps, were
protected by a heavy police presence.
By Adrian Blomfield, The Telegraph
– Suspected Jewish extremists stepped up a campaign against Christian
sites in Israel yesterday by vandalising a monastery in Jerusalem close
to some of the faith’s most revered places of pilgrimage.
Vandals scrawled the words “Jesus, son of a whore” on the gates of the
Monastery of St Francis, part of a complex on Mt Zion held by tradition
to mark the spot of the Last Supper and the death of the Virgin Mary.
The attack was at least the fourth on a Christian place of worship this
year and the second in under a month.
Jordan News Agency – About 130 Jewish settlers accompanied by rabbis
and escorted by Israeli police on Sunday stormed Al Aqsa mosque
compound in occupied East Jerusalem in the latest provocation against
local Arabs and Muslim worshippers, Al Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and
Heritage said.
In a statement, the Jerusalem-based foundation said the extremist
settlers forced their way into the compound, known as Haram El Sharif
(noble sanctuary) and tried to perform prayers as Israeli police stood
guard.
Occupation Forces Further Restrict
Palestinian Mobility in Jerusalem
By Oz Rosenberg, Haaretz
– The Defense Ministry sealed off on Wednesday morning the Ras Khamis
checkpoint, one of the only two exits of the Shoafat refugee camp,
which serves 65,000 people. The move contravenes a 2008 High Court
ruling.
Replacing the checkpoint, another portion of the separation barrier
will be constructed. The barrier already seals the camp off from three
directions. This is despite the fact that the refugee camp is part of
the Jerusalem Municipality.
GMJ-NA Condemns the DNC's Violation
of Protocol on Jerusalem Vote and Applauds Delegates who Voted Against
Amendment Regarding the Status of Jerusalem
The Global March to Jerusalem-North America condemns the recent events
leading up to and culminating in the Democratic National Convention's
botched vote to amend the party's platform to declare Jerusalem as the
“capital of Israel”. DNC rules stipulate that any amendment must
receive a two-thirds majority at the convention in order to be passed;
despite that it was clear to everyone watching, that the vote was
evenly divided. Nevertheless, the DNC leadership ignored the voices
within their own convention and passed the amendment regardless of not
having a majority. This decision is a clear example of how under
extreme pressure from President Obama, the Republican Party and AIPAC,
DNC leaders were forced to amend their 2012 party platform to include
text stating that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel even if it means
acting against democracy and international law.
Colonists, Members of Occupation's
Intelligence, Break Into Al-Aqsa Mosque
PNN-
30 members of Israel's intelligence community headed by Likud member
Moshe Feiglin, and groups of settlers, broke into al-Aqsa mosque since
early hours of Thursday morning.
Al Aqsa institute said in a press release that Moshe Feiglin, escorted
by settlers, broke into the mosque to perform Talmudic rituals,
under the protection of Israeli forces.
Catholic Church Condemns "Price-Tag"
Attack on Monastery
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz
– The Catholic Church condemned the so-called “price-tag” attack
against a Christian monastery on Tuesday, with high-ranking church
offices denouncing the “teaching of contempt” against Christians
prevalent in Israeli society.
Earlier Tuesday, the door of a Christian monastery in Latrun, the
Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Sept-Douleurs, near Jerusalem, was set on fire
in the morning and anti-Christian slogans were found spray-painted on
the monastery’s walls.
The arson and graffiti are suspected to be a “price tag” attack,
following the recent evacuation of Migron, a settlement outpost in the
West Bank.
Al Quds Monastery Torched, Racist
Graffiti Sprayed on Walls
JERUSALEM (Reuters/Ma'an)
-- Vandals torched the wooden door of a monastery near Jerusalem on
Tuesday and pro-settler graffiti daubed in Hebrew was discovered on the
building's stone walls, Israeli police said.
"Police have opened a special investigation into the incident," Israeli
police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said of the arson that occurred at the
Latrun Monastery.
By International Middle
East Media Center & Agencies
– The Higher Islamic Committee and the Islamic Waqf Department in
occupied Jerusalem, issued a statement commemorating the 43rd
anniversary of burning the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by an Australian
fundamentalist, and said that the Mosque and all holy sites in
Palestine are still facing ongoing and escalating threats by Israeli
extremists and fundamentalists.
Mufti of Jerusalem: "We Need the
Backing of Muslims Around the World"
By Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly – Hundreds of
thousands of
Palestinian Muslims have been converging on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Israeli
occupied East Jerusalem in what is seen by many as a psychological
challenge to Israeli claims that the town is an integral part of
Israel’s “eternal and undivided capital”.On Friday, 10 August, an
estimated half a million worshipers were able to make it to the Haram
Al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) esplanade. The sea of humanity came from
all over the West Bank as well as Arab towns and villages across
Israel. Strongly discriminated-against Palestinian Arabs make nearly
one fourth of Israel’s total population. No Gazans were allowed to
reach the Muslim sanctuary.
Zionist Lawmaker Submits Bill to
Divide Al-Aqsa Mosque
WAFA
– Israeli right-wing lawmaker Aryeh Eldad Thursday submitted to the
Israeli parliament, the Knesset, a draft bill calling to allow Jews
freedom to worship in al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites,
according to Israeli sources.
The bill calls for allowing Jews to hold prayer at the mosque, located
in Jerusalem’s Old City, on specific days while Muslims will be allowed
to use it on other days, a situation similar to what is happening at
the Ibrahimi mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron.
The Global March to Jerusalem Calls
for a Global Movement to Save Jerusalem
GMJ
– The Global March to Jerusalem joins the voices of concern in
Jerusalem, Palestine and, indeed, the world over, about the latest as
well as consequent threats to the al-Aqsa Masjid and the Dome of the
Rock, as well as the Haram Sharif in Jerusalem and the policy of
“Judaisation” that the Zionist leadership is pursuing with the explicit
intent of removing Muslim, Christian, Arab and all other traces of
non-Jewish history, culture, religion, archaeology and demography from
the city of Jerusalem and all other areas under Zionist control.
Occupation Court Rules Muslims in
Gaza Cannot Pray at Holy Sites
Agence France Presse
– An Israeli court on Tuesday backed an Israeli government policy of
allowing Christians from the Gaza Strip to pray at Israeli and West
Bank holy sites, and denying the enclave’s Muslims the same right.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal lodged by six Gaza Muslims and
Israeli non-governmental organisation Gisha to challenge a ruling of
the Beersheba District Court, which refused to intervene against the
policy.
Israeli Occupation intensifies
efforts to impede al-Aqsa Ramadan pilgrimage
The Guardian
– Under tight Israeli security, thousands of Palestinians make their
way to Jerusalem through checkpoints in Bethlehem and Qalandiya. Access
to the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, has been denied for
men aged between 12 and 40 on the third Friday of Ramadan. Israeli
police say the restrictions are imposed for security reasons.
On Friday, 3rd August, Israeli occupation intensified its procedures at
the checkpoints that were placed at the entrances of the occupied
Jerusalem and hindered the arrival of more than 320,000 worshipers from
the West Bank to al-Aqsa mosque to pray in the third Friday of the holy
Ramadan.
Government in Gaza Warns Against
Attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque
Palestinian
Information Centre –
The Palestinian government in Gaza has called on all Arab, Islamic, and
international organizations to check the Israeli occupation authority’s
tampering with the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
The foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the Israeli
decision declaring all Aqsa courtyards as public parks aimed to allow
Jews free access into the holy compound at any time.
The Jerusalem municipality has issued a decision to convert al-Aqsa
mosque’s yards into public parks and gardens that would be open to the
general public, according to Sheikh Kamal al-Khatib, deputy head of the
Islamic Movement in occupied lands.
On Tuesday, the Palestine News Network reported on a press release
issued by al-Khatib stating that this was part of an effort by the
Israeli authorities to erase the history of Palestinians in Jerusalem
and end Muslim control of their own holy sites.
GMJ –
Muslim groups throughout the Middle East have denounced the recent
Zionist attacks against al-Aqsa Mosque and urged immediate action to
protect the holy site.
The Jordanian Islamic party asked Arab and Muslim governments to
“condemn the recent attacks and to act to stop them,” pointing out that
“the attacks violate the international laws and conventions.” It also
called on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
and human rights organizations “to intervene to stop the recent serious
assaults.” Read more
Hezbollah denounced the storming of al-Aqsa and released a statement
that warned “this is not the first crime that targets the holy al-Aqsa
Mosque, and won’t be the last if the Muslims will go on with their
silence and ignoring to the dangers the holy mosque has been facing,”
adding that the holy mosque has been under the danger of judaization or
collapse.
Israelis Resume Demolition of
Historic Bridge to Al-Aqsa Mosque
Middle East Monitor
– The Israeli occupation authorities are resuming their demolition of
the historic Al-Magharibah Bridge to Al-Aqsa Mosque. Details of the
Israeli project were disclosed during a press conference arranged by
Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage. The work, it is alleged,
will also undermine the foundations of Islam’s third holiest mosque.
The Foundation used still and video images to support its claims.
Dozens of workers can be seen clearly using pick-axes and shovels to
destroy the bridge. Others are seen taking away the debris. Israel has
made it clear that a synagogue is to be built in place of the bridge.
Al-Aqsa Foundation has maps of the area showing this to be the case.
According to the Israeli plan, Al-Magharibah Bridge and Gate will be
replaced by a more modern bridge capable of allowing heavy military
vehicles to have access to the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa. This will,
claims the Foundation, enable the Israelis to move large numbers of
security forces into the compound with relative ease. “That is one of
the purposes of the current work,” said a representative of the
Foundation.
MK calls for moving Aqsa Mosque to
build the alleged Temple in its place
NAZARETH,
(PIC)--The
rightist Knesset member Aryeh Eldad of the "National Union" bloc has
proposed to his government to “cut up and move” the Aqsa Mosque in
order to build the alleged Temple in its place.
Eldad said, during a march around the walls of the Old City of
Jerusalem: “when the time comes to build the holy Temple and that will
be soon, we will then cut up the structure which is there now”. “We
will cut it up, and they can take it wherever they want”.
Agence France Presse – US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s
endorsement of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is “harmful” to US
interests in the Middle East, a senior Palestinian official said on
Sunday.
“Romney’s declarations are harmful to American interests in our region,
and they harm peace, security and stability,” Palestinian negotiator
Saeb Erakat told AFP.
“Even if this statement is within the US election campaign, it is
unacceptable and we completely reject it. The US election campaign
should never be at the expense of the Palestinians,” he said.
“Romney is rewarding occupation, settlement and extremism in the region
with such declarations.”
At a speech in Jerusalem, Romney on Sunday hailed Jerusalem as Israel’s
capital, in an apparent endorsement of a position held by the Jewish
state but never accepted by the international community.
Israeli Occupation Forces Kill Palestinian at Checkpoint
Al-Jazeera – Israeli soldiers have shot dead one Palestinian and
wounded two others after opening fire on a car at a checkpoint in the
occupied West Bank.
Palestinian medical and security sources said Akram Dair, 40-years-old,
was driving in a car before dawn on Monday when border guards near
Ramallah opened fire on him and the two other Palestinian passengers in
the car.
The three Palestinians, said to be heading to Occupied Jerusalem for
prayers, were taken to a hospital in Ramallah.
The Palestininan community of Silwan in East Jerusalem sits at a
geographically important location for the Israeli regime as it is
located right below the Old City. The regime has, for decades, expanded
its domain by expropriating the land of Palestinian families who have
live there for generations.
In Silwan live about 18% of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem; it is
home to 55,000 residents. Silwan was at one point recognized as "the
center of the intifada" in the 1980s, due to its politically active and
organized society.
Israeli forces have for decades expropriated the land of Silwanian
families in order to accommodate Jewish settlers and to expand the
Jewish touristic and religious enterprise. The Elad Association, the
richest and most powerful Jewish settlement association, has enforced
its occupying power to slowly turn Silwan into a Jewish region by
monopolizing on the history of the region while dismissing the
historical importance it has for Palestinian families.
The settler association continues to appropriate Palestinian land on
the grounds that it is a territory of 'archeological, historical, and
religious importance' as well as making use of its monopoly of the law,
by expropriating homes under the 'absentee property law.' In addition,
11 touristic parks have replaced hundreds of Palestinian homes.
Today, close to 65% of Silwanians face house demolition orders
Israeli police barred a traditional iftar meal for breaking the Ramadan
fast which was to take place at an East Jerusalem hotel on grounds it
had been organized by Hamas, a Palestinian activist said on Sunday.
During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last weekend,
Muslims are expected to abstain from food, drink and sex from dawn
until sunset, when they break their fast with a meal known as iftar.
According to Fakhri Abu Diab, a group called the Silwan Charity
Foundation was preparing for a mass iftar meal at the Panorama Hotel in
Ras al-Amud on the Mount of Olives.
However, two hours before the meal was to begin "Israeli police came
and prevented it from taking place on the grounds that the foundation
is financed by Islamic movements, including Hamas," said Abu Diab, an
activist in the flashpoint neighborhood of Silwan.
By Saed Bannoura, IMEMC
& Agencies – Israeli soldiers and policemen invaded, on Saturday
night after midnight, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem,
and attacked several worshipers while trying to forcefully remove them
out of the mosque; clashes were reported and two worshipers were
kidnapped.
The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage reported that the two
kidnapped worshipers are young men from Jerusalem.
The Foundation added that hundreds of worshipers remained in the
Al-Aqsa Mosque for the third night in a row, and that their stay was
facilitated by the Islamic Waqf Department while the Israeli military
and police are trying to prevent any worshiper from staying overnight
at the mosque or its yards.
IOA forces Jerusalemite to demolish
part of his home, arrests another
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) forced a Palestinian
Jerusalemite, Yacob Rasheq, to demolish an annex in his house in the
town of Silwan in Jerusalem.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the IOA obliged Rasheq to demolish a part
of his house in Al-Bustan neighborhood under the pretext that he did
not obtain a construction license from the municipality.
The Israeli municipality of Jerusalem forced the Palestinian civilian
to demolish his house giving him seven days to demolish it by himself
or the municipality would do it and he would pay a fine of at least 17
thousand dollars.
On July 23, 2012, in a scathing attack against the Wagf (literally
translated to endowment), the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) opinion
piece’s opening paragraph stated:
“This year, as Israel observes the traditional period of national
mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temple on Tisha b’Av (which
starts at sundown on Saturday), it has again been revealed that the
Islamic Wakf is carrying out unsupervised work at the Temple Mount,
potentially causing irrevocable damage to Judaism’s holiest site”.
A December 2011 al-Akhbar article fully elaborates on the Israeli
attacks against the Islamic Waqf for the purpose of land grab
which includes homes, shops, and even Moslem cemeteries.
But there is another dimension to these attacks – a messianic aspect
which is far more alarming than just stealing land from their rightful
owners. The inherent danger from the Israeli obsession over the Temple
Mount was first elaborated in an article dated June 2010 called “Nukes
And Temples” – highlights of which is as follows.
Evidently, American presidents wish to continue to guard Israel’s
nuclear “secret”. Today, the secrecy continues, as does the aid —
perhaps towards a messianic return – the building of the Third Temple.
JERUSALEM (Ma'an)
-- Israeli authorities are continuing to demolish the Mughrabi gate of
the compound housing the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for
Endowments and Heritage said Thursday.
The foundation said in a statement that Israel's excavations at the
site had been conducted secretly but were now being carried out
publicly.
The group has been monitoring the gate, and says dozens of workers have
been demolishing earth and stones at the site.
Workers are also digging up earth around the gate where the foundation
says Israeli authorities plan to build a synagogue for women. Under the
Mughrabi gate there is another passage, the Prophet gate, which leads
to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the foundation added.
Jewish Settlers Enter Al-Aqsa Mosque
Under Protection of Security Forces
Middle
East Monitor
– More than 120 Jewish settlers entered Al-Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday
morning. Al-Aqsa Foundation for Islamic Endowments and Heritage said
that several groups of illegal settlers entered the Noble Sanctuary
from Al-Magharebeh Gate and spread around the compound in several
places. There, it is reported, they established religious study circles
and performed a number of prayers.
(Alresalah.ps) On Thursday, 26th July, Israeli occupation forces
arrested at dawn, Imam of al-Aqsa mosque after they broke into the
mosque, closed its gates and forced the worshipers to leave.
Sources in Jerusalem said that worshipers were at the mosque for
al-Fajer prayer and suddenly the Israeli police broke into the mosque,
arrested the mosque's Imam and took him to an unknown location.
Israeli police and border police have escalated raids of the East
Jerusalem neighbourhood of Issawiya since the beginning of Ramadan last
Friday. Village residents report that police officers raid the village
each day after midnight, conducting searches of homes and detaining
young men.
On Tuesday Israel announced plans to take full municipal control of a
section of East Jerusalem that lies on the other side of its separation
wall.
Israeli officials in Tel Aviv have been discussing taking full
municipal control of the rest of East Jerusalem for several years.
Their latest plan will bring portions of the city suburbs that lie east
of the separation wall under Israeli jurisdiction, reports Ma’an News.
Israel Destroying Umayyad Palaces
Next to Al-Aqsa Mosque
(Middle East Monitor)
Israel has stepped-up its plans to destroy the Umayyad Caliphate
palaces south of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage has revealed that Israel
has stepped-up its plans to destroy the Umayyad Caliphate palaces south
of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israelis have also extended a network of bridges
and stairs around the archaeological area adjacent to Al-Aqsa, aiming
at the transformation of the entire area to provide service facilities
for the so-called Third Temple.
The foundation asserted that "if and when Israel's works in the Umayyad
palaces are completed, this will result in the Judaisation of the
entire region south of Al-Aqsa mosque under the pretext of the "Torah
Park". This is linked by an underground tunnel with the entrance of the
Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood in Silwan.
JERUSALEM (Ma'an)
-- Dozens of Jewish worshipers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque guarded by
Israeli soldiers on Monday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and
Heritage said.
Around 58 Jewish worshipers and 28 Israeli soldiers toured the mosque,
the foundation said in a statement. Such visits are provocative,
particularly in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the group added.
This week, family and friends crossed international borders, military
checkpoints and overcame the usual political bureaucracies to attend my
daughter’s two weddings. Why two weddings? Let me explain.
Like me, my daughter Tamara is a Jerusalemite. The bridegroom, Alaa,
lives in the Bethlehem area town of Beit Jala. It takes minutes to move
between these adjacent towns, but they are kilometers away because of
the 45-year-old political and military situation caused by Israel’s
occupation of Arab lands.
The situation is further complicated by the unilateral Israeli decision
to annex Jerusalem. So, according to Israeli law (which not a single
country, including the US, recognizes), Jerusalem is part of Israel and
therefore under civilian Israeli rule, Beit Jala is occupied territory
and the two are separated by walls and checkpoints.
Israeli Attorney General Claims:
Al-Aqsa is Part of Israel's Lands
PNN
Israeli Army broadcast published that Israeli Attorney General Yehuda
Vainshtein, claimed that al-Aqsa mosque and its surrounding is an
integral part of Israel's lands, so the Israeli laws must be
implemented, especially the two laws issued by the Temple Mount
Antiquities Rescue Committee; the Law of Planning and Construction,
1965, and the Antiquities Law of 1978.
The Army radio also said "Because of the special nature of the site,
laws should be applied with the utmost sensitivity, taking into account
the pragmatic considerations."
Determination
of Palestinians to stand up for their rights endures. (Activestills)
By Paul Larudee, published at Palestine Chronicle
'The old will die and the young will forget.' - David Ben Gurion, 1948
(1)
When I first went to Palestine in 1965, Ben Gurion's prediction seemed
plausible. Palestinians and the Palestine solidarity movement
were nearly invisible outside the Middle East. The Palestinian
narrative was not commonly heard, except among academics and
specialists who rarely had the opportunity to address the public.
Building an international movement was an unlikely dream and dependent
mainly upon the good graces of sympathetic governments and NGOs, which
proved elusive.
Today, the prediction seems more like wishful thinking, bordering on
delusion. Both Palestinians and their allies throughout the world
are more numerous and better organized than ever. They are
mounting increasingly sophisticated movements to challenge the Zionist
project of expelling the indigenous population from Palestine and
replacing it with racially and ethnically selected immigrants.
The reasons for this are many. Foremost is the enduring
determination of Palestinians to stand up for their rights and to
correct the wrongs done to them, even when the likelihood of prevailing
appeared dim. This determination spawned Palestinian champions
that included resistance fighters, writers, academics, artists and
politicians who have carried the cause into new dimensions and to new
audiences.
Israeli Eradication of History:
Disappearing Mosques
by Jonathan Cook, Al-Akhbar English – The discovery of a rare aerial
photo of Jerusalem in the 1930s, taken by a Zeppelin, has provided the
long-sought after proof that when Israel occupied the Old City in 1967
it secretly destroyed an important mosque that dated from the time of
Saladin close to the al-Aqsa mosque.
The destruction of the Sheikh Eid mosque – in an area widely considered
to be the most sensitive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict –
revives questions about Israel’s continuing abuse of Islamic holy
places under its control.
Foundation: Israel dug under Al-Aqsa
compound gate
JERUSALEM (Ma'an)
-- Israeli workers have dug a patch of earth from the bottom of the
Mughrabi gate of the compound housing Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Al-Aqsa
Foundation for Endowments and Heritage said Monday.
The foundation said trucks transported the dirt from the base of the
holy site after it was dug up manually overnight to avoid notice.
It warned that Israel is conducting secret excavations at night which
will obliterate Palestinian heritage.
The compound, the Haram al-Sharif, is in the old walled city of
Jerusalem, which Israel captured along with the West Bank in a 1967 war
and annexed in a step not recognized by the international community.
Israel Plans to Resume Construction
of Annexation Wall in Jerusalem
by Kelly Joiner, IMEMC & Agencies – An Israeli army officer
revealed plans to resume construction of the annexation wall in
Jerusalem in the coming weeks.
Israeli army colonel Ofir Hindi, head of the administration responsible
for construction of the annexation wall, revealed plans to continue
construction on the wall in Jerusalem in the upcoming weeks.
Israeli news agency Yediot Ahranot reported on discussions during an
Israeli Supreme Court hearing regarding an appeal Palestinians have
submitted to stop construction.
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israel's plans to resume building its separation
wall around Jerusalem signal plans to complete the "judaization" of the
holy city, a Fatah central committee member warned Thursday.
Amal Hamad said the move was Israel's "most dangerous action" since it
occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.
"The role of the apartheid wall around Jerusalem is to facilitate the
annexation of settlement blocs" Hamad said in a statement.
Agence France Presse – Israel’s interior
ministry has approved the construction of a military academy on land in
the Mount of Olives in Arab east Jerusalem, Israeli activists and
officials told AFP on Wednesday.
The plan is likely to spark controversy and has already been dubbed a
“provocation.”
“This project to construct a national defence college in Jerusalem was
voted on a month ago by the Jerusalem municipality planning committee
and another interior ministry committee confirmed it on Monday,” Pepe
Alalu, a council member in the Holy City, told AFP.
The public has 60 days to appeal the plan before it can be formally
approved.
“There’s little chance that an appeal will be accepted by the interior
ministry given that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports this
project,” said Daniel Seidemann, director of the NGO Terrestrial
Jerusalem.
Israel Demolishes Historic Islamic
Sites in Jerusalem
Tuesday,
June 26 2012 / By Saed Bannoura, IMEMC News – The Al-Aqsa
Foundation for Waqf and Heritage issued a press release, on Monday,
revealing that Israeli bulldozers destroyed and demolished historic
Islamic sites dating back to the Umayyad and Abbasid eras, in addition
to the Ottoman era in occupied Jerusalem. Some of the demolished sites
are a mosque and a school building dating back to the Umayyad era.
The Foundation
said that the so-called Israel’s Archeological Authority
has been destroying and burying ancient Islamic sites over the last
five years during excavations in Al-Boraq area, 100 meters west of the
Al-Aqsa Mosque.
West must
recognize peaceful Palestinian resistance movement
The
West has been largely silent on Palestinian nonviolent resistance,
which is unifying groups like Fatah and Hamas. Unless the West
recognizes these peaceful initiatives, some Palestinians may question
whether civil protest is any better than its violent alternative.
Israeli
border police detain a Palestinian demonstrator during a protest June 5
in the West Bank city of Hebron, marking the anniversary of the 1967
Middle East War. Op-ed contributor Sarah Marusek observes: 'While in
the past many Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon have supported the
path of armed resistance to fight for their rights, today they are
peacefully taking to the streets.' --Darren Whiteside/Reuters
Beirut, Lebanon
Some ask why the Palestinians seem to have been left behind in the
so-called Arab Spring. In fact, they have not.
Palestinians
in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and throughout the Middle East
region have been engaging in nonviolent resistance over the past year.
But the Western media have been largely silent in their coverage of
this remarkable movement, which is unifying groups as disparate as
Fatah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and The Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine.
Unless the West recognizes these peaceful
initiatives, some Palestinians may question whether nonviolent civil
resistance will be any better than its violent alternative.
With
the passing of the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, (the establishment of
the illegal Zionist state on the land and homes of Palestinians),
should we mourn or celebrate? Professor Nurit Peled–Elhanan wrote
of her mourning:
“I will mourn on Nakba Day. I will mourn for vanished Palestine most of
which I never knew. I will mourn for the holy land that is losing its
humanity, its landscape, its beauty and its children on the altar of
racism and evil. I will mourn for the Jewish youngsters who invade and
desecrate the homes of families in Sheikh Jarrah, throw the inhabitants
into the street, and then sing and dance in memory of Baruch Goldstein,
the infamous murderer of Palestinian children, while the owners of the
desecrated houses with their children and old people are sleeping in
the rain, on the street, opposite their own homes. ...All these things
I will mourn on Nakba Day. I will join the millions of dispossessed,
downtrodden and humiliated who have not given up on the future and who
still believe there is a chance, who stand as witnesses and as
firebrands of the true human spirit.…”
For
the last 64 years, Palestinian women, men, elderly, and youth have
steadfastly and spiritedly resisted the occupation and the Zionist
state. It is a resistance that continues flourishing among Palestinians
from all walks of life both inside and outside Palestine, be they
farmers, workers, students, poets, or intellectuals.
A Presentation and Discussion
about the Global March to Jerusalem
The Gaza contingent of the Global March to Jerusalem, March 30, 2012
WHERE: Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St., Berkeley
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 31, 2012
WHO: Paul Larudee, possibly with
other Bay Area GMJ organizers
FOR MORE INFO: organize@gmj-na.org,
Free will donations gratefully accepted
Possible GMJ 2013 Proposal: A Human Chain Around Palestine???
The 2008 Gaza human chain, organized by the Popular Committee Against
the Siege
04-03-2012
“Land Day” demonstrations saw tens of thousands in
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the occupied West Bank and Gaza
The Real News – March 30th marks the Palestinian annual “Land Day”.
This year protests were organized under the banner of a “Global March
to Jerusalem”, to mark the point that millions of Palestinians are
prevented from reaching the holy city from Arab countries, Gaza, and
the West Bank. In solidarity, tens of thousands protested in Lebanon,
Jordan, Syria, and in the occupied Palestinian Territories. The Real
News’ Lia Tarachansky reports from East Jerusalem where Israeli forces
met protesters with policemen on horses. At least one demonstrator died
in Gaza and dozens were injured in the various demonstrations.
GMJ demonstrators gather in Galilee on March
30, 2012
Dr. Ribhi Halloum talks with Ma'an News
Ma' an News Agency – (Bethlehem) Organizers of the Global March to
Jerusalem commemorating Land Day say the march on Friday made big
strides as most of its goals were realized.
03-31-2012
Commemorating
Palestinian
Land Day in Jordan
by
Tighe Barry
On
March 30, 2012, hundreds of demonstrations took place across the
globe in commemoration of Palestinian Land Day. This important day in
the history of the Palestinian people is a sorrowful reminder of the
six Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces in 1976 while
protesting the continued confiscation of their land.
Generation after generation, Palestinians continue to call for
an end to the brutal Israeli military occupation and the right to
return to their lands. The continued ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
from Jerusalem has resulted in a massive outcry and demonstrations
worldwide.
Today people from around the world came together in a massive
orchestrated effort known as the Global March to Jerusalem (GM2J),
timed to coincide with Land Day. Marches took place in Palestine,
Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Italy, Korea, all over the United States, and
in many more locations. A peaceful movement, the Global March to
Jerusalem is a people-powered action designed to assert the importance
of Jerusalem politically, culturally, and religiously to the
Palestinian people and humanity as a whole.
I had the privilege of participating in one of those protests in Amman,
Jordan.
We, the Advisory Board of the Global March to Jerusalem, are
alarmed and deeply troubled by the continuing repression of
Palestinians in Jerusalem and by the deliberate and systematic attempts
to expel and reduce the Christian and Muslim Palestinian population of
the city as part of the policy called “Judaisation,” which is being
applied to every part of historic Palestine.
This policy is inconsistent with all relevant United Nations
resolutions on Jerusalem and contrary to the most basic principles of
international law. Its purpose is plainly to ethnically cleanse
Jerusalem of its non-Jewish population and transform a once proud
symbol of international tolerance and religious and cultural diversity
into an exclusionary and racist enclave.
Jerusalem is our common universal heritage. It is the centre
of spirituality and ideological significance for all of the
monotheistic religions, and a beacon of emancipation and hope for the
downtrodden. This historic city is venerated across the world for
enhancing the spiritual heritage of all humanity; it has been a symbol
of unity and equality, with a message of love, mercy and compassion.
However the entire world is now witnessing a threat to the
sovereignty, sanctity and inviolability of Jerusalem. The plan is not
only to destroy the Muslim and Christian presence, but also to change
and dismantle the social structure of Jerusalem, obliterating its
indigenous Arab identity and changing the character of the city.
Following
is a partial list of organizations that have endorsed the Global March
to Jerusalem. It includes those that are based or have a significant
presence in North America, and are either participating in the
organizing of the North American contingent of the GMJ or have been
invited to do so. If your organization wishes to endorse and/or
participate in the organizing, please contact organize@gmj-na.org. For organizations outside North America, see www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org.
A.N.S.W.E.R-Act Now to Stop War & End
Racism - Coalition
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
American Indian Movement - West
Bay Area Women in Black
Birthright Unplugged
Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign
Canada Palestine Association
Canada-Palestine Support Network
Canadian Arab Federation
Canadian Boat to Gaza
Canadian Muslim Union
Canadian Peace Alliance
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
Centre for Research on Globalization
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
CNY Working for a Just Peace in Palestine &
Israel
CODEPINK Women for Peace
Existence is Resistance
Faculty for Palestine
Freedom Socialist Party
Free Palestine Committee, National Lawyers Guild
Free Palestine Movement
Friends of Sabeel - Hawaii
Friends of Sabeel - North America
Friends of Sabeel - Northern California
General Union of Palestinian Students - San
Francisco State University
Global Exchange
Hamilton Coalition to stop the War
Hilton Head for Peace
Independent Jewish Voices
International Committee, National Lawyers Guild
International Socialist Organization
International Solidarity Movement Bard College
International Solidarity Movement Northern
California
International Solidarity Movement Vancouver
Intifada Tent - Occupy Oakland
ICAHD USA
Leadership Team of Franciscan Sisters of
Little Falls, MN
Middle East Childres's Alliance
Middle East Crisis Response
Middle East Study Group
Middle Eastern Student Association (MESA) York
University
Muslim American Society Immigrant Justice Center
North Coast Coalition for Palestine
Not In Our Name (NION): Jewish Voices Opposing
Zionism
Our Neighbors in Palestine
Palestine House
Palestinian American Congress
Palestinian Association of Brantford
Palestinian Association of Hamilton
Resource Center for Nonviolence
San Jose Peace & Justice Center
Siraat
Science for Peace
September15
South Alameda County Peace & Justice
Committee
Students for Justice in Palestine - UC Berkeley
United Progressives
U.S. Dominican Palestine Coordinating Committee
Unitarian Universalists For Justice In the
Middle East
Voice of Palestine
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club
Individuals
Following
is a list of indivduals who endorse the Global March to Jerusalem.
Additional endorsements are welcome and may be sent to organize@gmj-na.org.
Dr. Amir M. Maasoumi
Ann Wright, United States Army
colonel, ret.
Benjamin Monnet, World Assembly
Member, USA/Korea
Clayborne Carson, Professor &
Director, Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute,
Stanford University
Cindy Sheehan, anti-war activist;
mother of US soldier killed in Iraq; author
Cornell West, Professor of African
American Studies, Princeton University; Philosopher, writer and Civil
Rights Activist
David Hartsough, Director,
Peaceworkers, San Francisco
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake, Presiding
Minister, Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, San Francisco
Edward Peck, Retired US Ambassador
and career US Diplomat
Professor Francis A. Boyle, University
of Illinois College of Law
George Galloway, British Member of
Parliament
Dr. Ghada Karmi, Co-Director, Centre
for Palestine Studies, University of Exeter
Dr. Hatem Bazian, Senior Lecturer in
Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Izzet Sahin, International Affairs
Secretary, IHH
Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Pastor
Emeritus, Trinity Church of Christ, Chicago
Joe Meadors, Veteran and Survivor
of the 1967 Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty
Dr. Judith Butler, American
philosopher and Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Lauren Booth, broadcaster,
journalist and activist
Fr. Louis Vitale, Order of
Franciscan Monks; Pace e Bene; nonviolent resistor
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Shomer
Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence
Mairead Maguire, , Nobel Peace
Laureate
Marcy Winograd, Los Angeles
teacher, peace activist and former candidate for the U.S. House of
Representatives
Medea Benjamin, Co-founder Code
Pink and Global Exchange
Michel Warschawski, anti-Zionist
activist and journalist; co-founder, Alternative Information Center
Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian
democracy activist and former presidential candidate
Noam Chomsky, Institute
Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics
& Philosophy at MIT
Richard Falk, Professor of
International Law Emeritus, Princeton University
Roger Leisner, Radio Free Maine
Ronnie Kasrils, South African ANC
leader and cabinet minister
Samuel F. Hart, U.S. Ambassador,
ret.
Susan Abulhawa,
Palestinian-American author and Founder of Playgrounds for Palestine
Dr. Tanveer Ahmad Zubairi,
President, International Organization of Doctors
Tariq Ali,
British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker,
public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator
Wednesday, 17 April 2013 / Occupied Palestine
Monday, 8 April 2013 / Occupied Palestine Ð The International Jerusalem Center warned of Israeli intentions to establish a Talmudic garden on confiscated Jerusalemite lands near Al-Aqsa Mosque from the eastern side.
GMJ demonstrators gather in Galilee on March
30, 2012 
AROUND
THE GLOBE 
