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

 

Israeli Occupation Apartheid Regime Forces Continue to Shoot at, Abduct Palestinians, and Demolish their Homes

July 25, 2020 

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:

http://english.wafa.ps/, https://english.palinfo.com/, https://imemc.org/, https://paltoday.ps/ar/

 

Muadth Amarneh, a Palestinian journalist shot in his eye by Israeli occupation soldiers, file, July 25, 2020	Palestinian child, Muadth Ewewi, 12, was abducted by undercover Israeli occupation soldiers in East Jerusalem, on July 23, 2020

259 Israeli Violations Against Palestinian Journalists in 2020

IMEMC, July 25, 2020 11:46 AM  Ali Salam 

A new report released by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) has documented 259 violations committed against Palestinian journalists by Israeli occupation forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the beginning of this year.

The head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Nasser Abu Bakr, said during a press conference that of the 259 total violations, 59 were committed in occupied East Jerusalem, indicating the seriousness of the matter because Palestinian journalists are targeted by the Israeli occupation authorities to prevent media coverage of the Israeli military’s illegal activities in the city.

He said the PJS has submitted a file to the International Criminal Court on Israel’s violation of Palestinian journalists, including murdering some and maiming others.

Mohammad Al-La'ham, who heads the Freedom of the Press Committee, said 14 journalists were injured by Israeli occupation army bullets in the first six months of this year, seven were directly hit by teargas canisters, concussion bombs or skunk water, and 41 suffered from teargas inhalation.

He said at the same press conference that the Israeli occupation forces have arrested 17 Palestinian journalists, detained 96 others, brought 16 journalists in front of Israeli courts, summoned for interrogation 7 journalists, targeted 50 journalists, while 17 journalists had to be hospitalized after they were attacked by soldiers.

La'ham also said that the Facebook corporation was an active participant in the violations against Palestinian journalists when it censored their content and accounts, adding that the PJS has documented 700 violations against freedom of the press, with more than 95 percent of them committed by Facebook, which repeatedly gave in to Israeli pressure and either blocked Palestinian publications or closed accounts of journalists and activists without providing a sufficient explanation.

Palestinian Child Abducted by Under Cover Agents in Jerusalem

 IMEMC, July 25, 2020 6:10 AM  Ali Salam 

Undercover Israeli occupation apartheid regime police abducted, on Thursday, a 12-year-old Palestinian child from the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of al-‘Isawiya, the Palestinian WAFA News Agency reported.

Witnesses revealed that undercover agents were seen getting out of a civilian vehicle, and abducting Moath Ewewi, 12, taking him to an unknown location.

Undercover Israeli occupation forces, known as Musta’ribeen, are special agents who dress as Palestinians, so they can easily carry out abductions, within Palestinian towns and villages, according to the Palestinian Information Center.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center (Silwanic) reported that the child was released, on Friday, and quoted the child as saying:

“I was looking at the house, they attacked me, undercover, they put on masks, took out weapons, and took me … My mother came and released me … They beat me on the head and my hands, and they insulted me.”

Four Palestinians Injured by Israeli Occupation Forces at Weekly Kufur Qaddoum March

IMEMC, July 24, 2020 11:37 PM  Ali Salam 

Israeli occupation forces injured four Palestinians, on Friday, at the weekly demonstration against Israeli settlements, in Kufur Qaddoum village, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, according to local sources.

Murad Eshtaiwi, coordinator of the popular resistance in the village, told the Palestinian WAFA News Agency that Israeli soldiers opened fire towards the protesters with live rounds, rubber-coated steel rounds, and tear-gas canisters.

Two were shot and injured, while two others were injured from falls while being chased by the soldiers.

Many others suffered the toxic effects of tear-gas inhalation, and were treated at the scene.

Palestinians have been holding weekly demonstrations in Kufur Qaddoum village, since 2003, to demand the Israeli authorities reopen the village’s main road, which was closed in 2002, for the benefit of illegal settlers in nearby illegal Israeli colonies.

Under international law, namely the Fourth Geneva Convention, it is forbidden for the occupying state to transfer any of its own population onto the land which it occupies. In this case, Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, since then hundreds of settlements and outposts have been built on occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli Occupation Apartheid Regime Navy Attacks Gaza Fishermen, Farmers

IMEMC, July 22, 2020 2:55 PM  The Palestinian News & Info Agency 

WAFA News: Gaza, Wednesday, July 22, 2020 (WAFA) – 

Israeli occupation apartheid regime navy Wednesday morning opened fire towards Palestinian fishermen sailing offshore As-Sudaniya, northwest of Gaza city,  and farmers, southeast of Gaza city, WAFA correspondent reported.

He confirmed that the fishermen were sailing only three nautical miles offshore the area when Israeli naval boats opened gunfire and water hoses towards them.

The fishermen had to leave the water and abruptly end their fishing mission, which is their sole source of livelihood. No injuries were reported though.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces manning the border fence fired live rounds and tear gas at a group of farmers who were tending to their groves to the east of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza city.

The farmers were forced to leave their groves and no injuries were reported among them.

Fourteen years following the Israeli “disengagement” from Gaza, Israel has not actually disengaged from Gaza; it still maintains control of its land borders, access to the sea and airspace.

Two million Palestinians live the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a punishing and crippling Israeli blockade for 12 years and repeated onslaughts that have heavily damaged much of the enclave’s infrastructure.

Gaza’s 2-million population remains under “remote control” occupation and a strict siege, which has destroyed the local economy, strangled Palestinian livelihoods, plunged them into unprecedented rates of unemployment and poverty, and cut off from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and the wider world.

Gaza remains occupied territory, having no control over its borders, territorial waters or airspace. Meanwhile, Israel upholds very few of its responsibilities as the occupying power, failing to provide for the basic needs of Palestinian civilians living in the territory.

Every two in three Palestinians in Gaza is a refugee from lands inside what is now Israel. That government forbids them from exercising their right to return as enshrined in international law because they are not Jews.

PPS: “Israeli Occupation Soldiers Abduct 14 Palestinians In West Bank”

 IMEMC, July 22, 2020 3:40 PM  IMEMC News 

Israeli occupation soldiers abducted, on Wednesday at dawn, fourteen Palestinians from their homes in several parts of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) has reported.

The PPS office in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, has reported that the soldiers searched many homes in the governorate and abducted Issa Salah al-‘Amour, from Yatta town, south of Hebron city, in addition to Mohammad Issa, Hisham Mahmoud Najajra, 55, Baha’ Kamal Jawabra and Omar Karim, from the al-‘Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, Mohannad Ahmad Hawamda and Ghassan Mohammad al-Mahareeq, from the Sammoa’ town, south of Hebron, along with Mahmoud Issa, from Beit Awwa town, west of Hebron.

In Ramallah governorate, in central West Bank, the soldiers abducted Ibrahim Oleyyan, 27, from the al-Am’ari refugee camp, and Ibrahim Salim Abdo, 27, from Umm ash-Sharayet neighborhood in al-Biereh city, while resident Mohamad Eyas Najjar from the al-Jalazoun refugee camp, was abducted after being summoned for interrogation.

In Tubas, in central West Bank, the soldiers abducted three Palestinians from Tayasir village, identified as Salama Abul-Razeq, Eyad Mithqal Abu Mohsin, and Jrouh Fayez Sbeih.

Israeli Occupation Soldiers Demolish A Palestinian Home In Jerusalem

 IMEMC, July 22, 2020 4:48 PM  IMEMC News 

Israeli occupatin soldiers demolished, Wednesday, an under-construction Palestinian home in the Jabal al-Mokabber neighborhood in the occupied Palestinian capital Jerusalem.

Media sources said several army and police jeeps invaded the neighborhood accompanied by a bulldozer and demolished the property.

They added that the City Council in occupied Jerusalem is alleging that the building was being constructed without a permit.

The demolished property was around 90 square meters, owned by Saifuddin Ali Jom’a, in the Shayyah area.

Many Palestinians in the occupied city resort to constructing their homes without permits due to Israel’s continued refusal to issue these permits, while the expanding families find themselves living in small homes or apartments.

This happens while the Israeli occupation apartheid regime continues to build and expand its illegal, segregated colonies in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, in direct violation of International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions.

Last week, the United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for the Occupied Palestinian Territory has reported that Israel demolished or seized 100 Palestinian-owned structures, a sharp increase compared with previous months and the highest figure since January 2017. As a monthly average, the number of structures targeted during the first half of 2020.

OCHA also stated that Israel has, so far this year, demolished 371 structures in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, displacing 412 Palestinians.

In addition, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD) has reported, on July 6th, that Israel has demolished 101 structures, displacing 137 Palestinians, and affecting 435 others, in June.

In the year 2019, the army demolished 623 structures, displacing 914 Palestinians in the occupied territory. 

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PCHR: Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (16– 22 July 2020)

 IMEMC, July 24, 2020 5:33 AM  PCHR 

Summary

Israeli occupation apartheid regime military forces continued to commit crimes and multi-faceted violations against Palestinian civilians and their properties, including raids into Palestinian cities that are characterized with excessive use of force, assault, abuse and attacks on civilians. This week, the Israeli army’s excessive use of force rendered 5 injuries among Palestinian civilians, including a child, during raids and attacks on peaceful protests in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

This week, Israeli forces raided Yabous Cultural Centre and the Edward Said National Conservatory in occupied East Jerusalem, confiscated thousands of documents and equipment, and detained directors of both establishments for 12 hours.

Since announcing its plans to annex occupied West Bank territories, the Israeli military has continued systematic demolitions and land razing, establishing roads for settlements in an accelerated manner. This week witnessed an increase in land confiscation orders in al-‘Isawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem.

This week, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) documented 132 Israeli violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law (IHL) by Israeli forces and illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt).

Israeli forces shooting and violation of right to bodily integrity: Israeli forces shot and wounded 5 Palestinians, including a child, in excessive use of force against peaceful protests in the West Bank: 3 in Nablus; and 12, including 1 child, in a peaceful protest in Beita village; and 2 others were wounded in a military invasion into Jenin refugee camp and al-Jalazoun refugee camp in Ramallah.

In Gaza, Israeli occupation forces opened fire at agricultural lands 4 times and 3 times at fishing boats in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians: Forces carried out 77 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids of civilian houses and shootings, inciting fear among civilians, and attacking many of them. During this week’s incursions, 65 Palestinians were detained, including 4 children and 1 woman. During raids, Israeli forces confiscated thousands of documents and equipment, especially during its raid on Yabous Cultural Centre and the Edward Said National Conservatory and raided the houses of both directors of the aforementioned establishments in occupied East Jerusalem.

Settlement expansion activities and settlers’ attacks: Israeli authorities continued their settlement expansion operations in the occupied West Bank, PCHR documented 16 violations, including:

Salfit: cease-construction notices to 15 houses in Kafur al-Deek village, west of Salfit; and 1 house demolished; Hebron: 2 houses received cease-construction notices in Hebron; tin-plate house dismantled and demolished, another house demolished, as well as a car wash, a brick-and-wood agricultural room, a lavatory and a barracks in southeastern Yatta; East Jerusalem: civilians forced to self-demolish their homes (2), demolition of an under-construction house; Qalqilia: evacuation-notice for a land; Bethlehem: confiscation of an archeological stone in Taqoua’ village, and demolition of a house; cease-construction and demolition notice to an under-construction house and 4 agricultural rooms in al-Walajah village, western Bethlehem.

PCHR also documented 2 settler attacks that rendered 3 civilians wounded and bruised; settlers also stole their bikes in Ramallah.

Israeli closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement: The people of the Gaza Strip continue suffer the effects of the worst closure in the history of the Israeli occupation of the oPt as it has entered the 14th consecutive year, without any improvement to the movement of persons and goods, humanitarian conditions and bearing catastrophic consequences on all aspects of life. This was amplified by the restrictions put in place by Israeli authorities in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, that had already had grave implications on the humanitarian and economic situation of the Gaza Strip. Of all the Gaza Strip’s border crossings, only 2 currently function: Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) for movement of goods and Beit Hanoun (Erez) for movement of individuals. The Israeli authorities continued to impose restrictions on the entry of goods classified as “dual-use items”, despite their importance in reviving the market, manufacturing and maintenance. The Beit Hanoun crossing is only opened for extreme emergency humanitarian cases. Lately, a very limited number of individual cases of patients who have obtained medical referrals and financial coverage to Israel were able to travel, and some others referred to Israeli organizations working in the field of health for assistance in coordination.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities continued to divide the West Bank into separate cantons with key roads blocked by the Israeli occupation since the end of the Second Intifada (2005) and with temporary and permanent checkpoints, where civilian movement is restricted, and they are subject to detention.

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Israeli Supreme Court rules: Palestinian prisoners have no right to social distancing protection against COVID-19

 IMEMC, July 25, 2020 3:36 AM  The Legal Center For Arab Minority Rights In Israel 

Israel’s top court rejects Adalah petition demanding Israel implement COVID-19 protective guidelines for prisoners at Gilboa prison; 30 prison guards and 7 prisoners are infected while 489 guards and 58 prisoners are in quarantine.

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled late on Thursday, 23 July 2020, that Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons have no right to social distancing protection against the COVID-19 virus.

The court had convened earlier in the day to hear a petition filed by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel demanding that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and Israel’s Public Security Ministry take all necessary actions to protect from a COVID-19 outbreak the 450 prisoners – overwhelmingly Palestinians – who are classified as “security prisoners” in the overcrowded Gilboa prison.

Adalah Attorney Myssana Morany, who submitted the petition on behalf of the families of two Palestinian prisoners, responded to the ruling by the top Israeli court:

“Israel’s Supreme Court has chosen to accept the fiction pitched to it by Israeli authorities that COVID-19 social distancing policies – essential for everyone else – are not relevant to the Palestinian ‘security prisoners’ it holds behind bars. This precedent-setting ruling endangers the lives and health of Palestinians held by Israel – and poses a threat to society as a whole. It flies in the face of health and human rights professionals around the world who have called for social distancing within prisons, and leaves Palestinians held by Israel exposed to the virus with no option to protect themselves.”

Gilboa prison (Google Maps)

The Supreme Court justices accepted the claim promoted by Israeli state authorities that Palestinians held in prison are no different than family members or flatmates living in the same home, completely ignoring the fact that prisoners are held under duress and Israeli authorities are responsible for their health and the conditions of their incarceration.

The court ruling has freed the IPS from the obligation to maintain, and or even strive for, safe social distancing in the cells of Palestinian “security prisoners”. This runs contrary to basic COVID-19 health practices employed by prison authorities around the world.

Last night’s ruling also illustrates the Israeli Supreme Court’s continued avoidance throughout the period of the COVID-19 pandemic to hear petitions related to ensuring the protection of prisoners’ rights.

The Supreme Court further ruled that Adalah is liable for covering NIS 5,000 in court expenses.

In the petition, Adalah demanded that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and Israel’s Public Security Ministry implement Israeli Health Ministry social distancing guidelines for the prisoners held in this facility, located in the north of the country.

Materials given by state authorities to the Supreme Court and discussed in yesterday’s hearing stressed that social distancing restrictions should not apply to family members or individuals who live together, but nevertheless, they also recognized the need to reduce the population density inside Israeli facilities amongst prisoners serving time for criminal sentences.

Adalah Attorney Myssana Morany commented immediately following the hearing:

“Israeli authorities claimed today in court that social distancing policies essential for protecting prisoners serving time for criminal charges are somehow not relevant for ‘security prisoners’. The Israel Prison Service should have stood together with us today and demanded that it be granted the means to protect the people for whose health and safety it holds direct responsibility. We were, instead, subject to absurd arguments equating prisons with family living rooms, while prisoners continue to be forced to come into daily contact with guards potentially exposed to COVID-19 outside the prison walls.”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ISRAELI PRISONS

Six prisoners are housed in cells 22 square meters in size (including a shared toilet and bathroom) that contain three bunkbeds in Gilboa Prison. Under these conditions, prisoners are unable to adhere to Israeli Health Ministry’s social distancing guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19, thus endangering their safety and lives.

Israeli state representatives provided the court with updated figures on the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic inside IPS detention facilities:

30 IPS employees are infected with COVID-19 7 prisoners (including 2 security prisoners) are infected with COVID-19 489 IPS employees are in quarantine 58 prisoners (including 10 security prisoners) are in quarantine The IPS has conducted 9,124 COVID-19 tests, some 4,000 of which were for prisoners

Adalah made repeated attempts to obtain information from the IPS about the conditions under which the Palestinian prisoners are detained, especially in view of their exclusion from new measures intended to reduce prison density. While Israel has recently released hundreds of prisoners during the COVID-19 crisis due to overcrowding, no Palestinians classified as security prisoners have been released.

In response to a pre-COVID-19 petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Israeli prison facilities must guarantee a minimum living space of 4.5 square meters per prisoner. The IPS has not abided by this Supreme Court ruling.

Case Citation: HCJ 2904/20, Adalah et. al. v. Israel Prison Service, et. al.

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