Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

Palestinian, Israeli And International Peace Activists Protest Against Illegal Israeli Settlement (Land Theft) Activities in Silwan,

July 14, 2019 

Editor's Note:

While brutal force has been used to create Zionist Israel and sustain it thus far, Zionist claims to Palestine are false. Actually, from the five thousand years of known written history, there has been a continuous Palestinian-Canaanite presence in the Holy Land. Despite the Zionist false claims, the ancient Israelites ruled part of the land for only 85 years (during the reign of David, Solomon, and Solomon's son).

 After that, the Egyptians conquered Palestine-Canaan in 925 BC, followed by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, before the Arab Muslim rule, starting from 636 AD.

By the Time Jesus started his mission, the three population groups of Canaanites, Palestinians, and Israelites were melted together in religion and language. Most of them became Christians when Constantine converted in 313 AD. Then, most of them became Muslims in the 7th and 8th centuries AD.

So, Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and Jews are the ones who have the right to claim descent from ancient Israelites, Palestinians, and Canaanites, not Zionists from other continents.

The following news stories are just examples of the Israeli occupation government violations of Palestinian human rights, on daily basis.

More detailed news stories can be found at the following sources: https://english.palinfo.com/, http://imemc.org/, https://paltoday.ps/ar/

 

 

Palestinian, Israeli, and International Peace Activists Protest Against Illegal Israeli Settlement (land theft) Activities in Silwan

July 12, 2019 5:22 PM IMEMC News

Dozens of local Palestinians, accompanied by Israeli and international peace activists, held a nonviolent procession, Friday, against the ongoing and escalating illegal Israeli settlement (land theft) activities, including the occupation of homes, in Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem.

The protest started at the entrance of Silwan town, near the so-called “City of David” illegal colony, and headed towards a home, owned by Siyam Palestinian family, which was removed from its property, two days ago, and replaced with colonialist settlers.

The protesters carried signs in Arabic, English and Hebrew, calling for ending the Israeli violations, and chanted against the escalating illegal confiscation of Palestinian homes and lands, in addition to Israel’s ongoing colonialist activities.

The soldiers, and the police, attacked the nonviolent protests, and pushed them around, to disperse them.

It is worth mentioning that the US Ambassador to Israel, and longtime Israeli settlement financier, David Friedman, participated on Sunday June 30th 2019, in an underground excavation under the Palestinian tow of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, actively participating in the illegal settlement action by bashing with a hammer a section of ancient underground wall located beneath Palestinian homes.

US Ambassador to Israel Participates in Israeli Underground Settlement Expansion

July 1, 2019 3:58 AM IMEMC News

The US Ambassador to Israel, and longtime Israeli settlement financier, David Friedman, participated on Sunday in an underground excavation under the Palestinian town of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, actively participating in the illegal settlement action by bashing with a hammer a section of ancient underground wall located beneath Palestinian homes.

In addition to Ambassador David Friedman, the US “Peace Envoy” Jason Greenblatt also participated in the controversial and illegal excavation, along with Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who recently narrowly avoided prison time by negotiating a plea agreement in which she pleaded guilty to corruption charge.

The presence of US officials at the incident marks the first time that the US, or any country, has decided to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Old City was declared an international space open to all during the declaration recognizing the state of Israel in 1948. But since 1967, Israeli forces have occupied the mainly Palestinian city and have used many measures, legal and illegal, to push out the Palestinian residents of the city.

This archaeological dig is to excavate a tunnel that Israeli state archaeologists claim was used by Jewish pilgrims thousands of years ago.

According to a statement by the Israeli non-profit Emek Shaveh, the group believes that this incident with the U.S. officials is “a further step in American support for the pro-settlement policy in Jerusalem, and particularly the touristic-settlement projects….It is inexcusable to ignore the Palestinian residents of Silwan, carrying out extensive excavations of an underground city and to use such excavations as part of an effort to tell a historical story that is exclusively Jewish in a 4,000 year-old city with a rich and diverse cultural and religious past”.

In an editorial in the leading Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, the paper’s editors write, “The participation of American diplomats at an event sponsored by a right-wing group in East Jerusalem constitutes de facto recognition of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem’s historic basin. If anyone had any doubts about that, Friedman made clear in an interview with the Jerusalem Post that, ‘The City of David is an essential component of the national heritage of the State of Israel.” Giving it up, even in the context of a peace agreement, he said, “would be akin to America returning the Statue of Liberty.’”

The problem with this argument, according to the editors of Ha’aretz, is that, “This recognition doesn’t just put the American administration on the extreme right of the Israeli political map – thus undercutting the claim that American can be an unbiased broker between Israel and the Palestinians – but it also ignores the complicated reality in Silwan, East Jerusalem and the entire region. The tunnel, which was excavated using controversial methods from a scientific standpoint, harnesses archaeology to politics while ignoring the nuances of Jerusalem’s ancient past….Anyone having even a passing familiarity with the Palestinian people knows that there’s no chance of arriving at any kind of agreement that will end the occupation so long as Israel continues to control East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Thus, by mere words and an event dripping with sweetness and smiles, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has sentenced Israelis to a life of constant conflict, or to an apartheid state in which there are two types of residents, those with rights and those without them.”

Over 300,000 Palestinians live in the city of Jerusalem, at least 20,000 of whom live in Silwan. These Palestinians have no citizenship rights and are not granted freedom of movement by the Israeli authorities. They are frequently displaced from their ancestral homes by Israeli settlers, particularly in Silwan neighborhood, which has been targeted by Israeli right-wing settlers for colonization.

Israeli Excavations In Silwan Continue To Cause Serious Damage To Palestinian Property

March 2, 2019 12:57 AM IMEMC News

The recent heavy rain fall has, once again, has revealed the serious damage caused by the ongoing illegal Israeli excavations in occupied Jerusalem, especially the tunnels under the Palestinian homes in Wadi Hilweh neighborhood, in Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) has reported that the rain fall, which lasted for several hours a few days ago, has caused serious damage and cracks in the walls and foundations of many homes, located above the areas Israel is ongoing with digging tunnels and removing sand as part of its “tunnels network,” leading to the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Silwanic added that the ongoing digging and excavations have also caused the collapse of a playground and a parking lot in Wadi Hilweh, and stated that the Israeli machines keep digging around the clock, and the workers keep removing large amounts of sand resulting from the continuous work under the Palestinian homes.

It stated that similar the excavations also caused damage to lands, owned by the Greek Orthodox Christian Church, like what happened several months ago, resulting from the same excavations.

Palestinians in Wadi Hilweh stated that the winter season, especially the heavy rain, exposed the seriousness and the dangerous consequences of the ongoing digging, causing more damage to homes and property, and added that at least seventy homes in addition to walls and roads in Wadi Hilweh, have been seriously impacted.

Silwanic said that the residents headed to Israeli courts, demanding stopping the digging under their homes and property, but the excavations continued, and the damage to the Palestinian properties is becoming more serious, especially since many more have been being flooded by the rain, after their walls and floors are cracked due to the ongoing digging.

Injuries Reported as Israeli Forces Demolish Home in Silwan

April 30, 2019 11:25 AM IMEMC News

For the second straight day, Israeli forces invaded Silwan neighborhood, in East Jerusalem, to carry out demolitions of Palestinian homes, and beat back residents who tried to stop them. The Israeli forces reportedly used tear gas, stun grenades, pushing and beating against the residents, causing injuries.

At least seven youth were injured by Israeli forces, several of whom were hit by rubber-coated steel bullets, according to local sources.

The Israeli authorities had issued demolition orders for three homes in the Wadi Yasol neighborhood of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, just south of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

When the troops arrived with military vehicles and armored D9 bulldozer to demolish the three homes, belonging to brothers Anas and Qusay Burqan, a number of local residents came out to the street to protest, and to try to prevent the demolition.

The protesters did not manage to stop the demolition, and the Israeli soldiers entered the homes after spraying the protesters with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. They forced the residents out of their homes, and demolished them.

This follows similar demolitions in the same neighborhood the day before. 

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