Israeli occupation soldiers injured as Israeli forces demolish Jerusalem homes

Published today (updated) 27/10/2009 10:26

Jerusalem – Ma’an –

Two Israeli occupation soldiers were injured on Tuesday morning when they were confronted by Palestinians whose houses they were demolishing in occupied East Jerusalem.

According to local sources, Israeli occupation forces and a demolition crew from the Jerusalem Municipality entered the village of Sur Bahir, south of Jerusalem and destroyed a two-story house by Nimir Ali Nimir. The 300 square meter house was home to 11 people.

Outraged at the destruction of the house, stone-throwing Palestinian demonstrators confronted the Israeli officers, and two soldiers were mildly injured.

Israeli authorities said that the house was built with out a construction permit from the Israeli-controlled municipality. Palestinian residents of Jerusalem say the permits are nearly impossible to obtain.

Meanwhile, in the in Al-Salam neighborhood in East Jerusalem bulldozers demolished a 60 square meter house owned by Khamis Al-Tahhan, which had housed nine members of his family.

Residents say the Israeli occupation forces have demolished the same house twice before, also citing a lack of building permits, but the owner has rebuilt it twice.

Witnesses: Settlers assault farmers near Nablus

Published today (updated) 27/10/2009 11:31

Nablus – Ma’an –

At least two Palestinians were injured on Tuesday when dozens of Israeli settlers attacked farmers who were harvesting olives in the West Bank village of Qaryout, south of the city of Nablus.

According to sources in the village, the incident began when dozens of Israeli settlers assaulted farmers who were working near the Israeli settlement of Shavout Rachel.

After this initial attack, both soldiers and settlers stormed the village, clashing with Palestinian residents who threw stones back. Soldiers fired bullets and tear gas, residents said.

Medics said that two Palestinians were moderately injured. One was identified as 31-year-old Mu’taz Ghassan.

Qaryout’s Mayor, Abd An-Nasser Al-Qaryouti told Ma’an that the farmers had obtained permission to head to the fields from the Israeli army through the Palestinian Authority’s liaison office.

Despite this prior coordination, the mayor said, settlers arrived in more than 70 cars. He said the settlers initiated the fight by hurling stones at the farmers. Israeli forces were present, and they did not attempt to stop the settlers, he added.

Qaryout is a village of about 2,500 people who depend on agriculture for their livelihood.

Israeli occupation forces kidnap seven Palestinians in two cross-border raids

Published today (updated) 27/10/2009 12:21

Jerusalem – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped seven Palestinian in two overnight cross-border raids in the West Bank, witnesses and Palestinian police said on Tuesday.

Witnesses reported that seven Israeli military vehicles entered the village of Beit Duqqu, southwest of Ramallah, and invaded raided houses. There, soldiers detained Amjad Basem Husein, 18, Fadel Yasin Rayyan, 27, Bader Na’im Bader, 18, and Bashir Jamal Marar 18, according to witnesses.

In the city of Qalqiliya, soldiers seized Majed Abu Khadija from his home. In the nearby village of Azzun, soldiers raided a house owned by Hisham Mustapha Idwan and seized his son, Mamoun Idwan, 23. They also raided a house owned by Wasfy Ali Hussain and detained his son Ihab Hussein, 20.

PA official banned from Jerusalem after demonstrations

Published yesterday (updated) 27/10/2009 10:34

Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

An Israeli court banned Hatem Abdul Qader, the Palestinian Authority’s most prominent official in Jerusalem, from the Old City for three weeks on Monday after a day of demonstrations in reaction to a police raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ordered the ban in response to a request from the Israeli police, who arrested the former government minister on Sunday on suspicion of inciting riots.

Palestinian demonstrators fought street battles with Israeli riot police after Israeli forces burst into the courtyard of the holy site early on Sunday. As many as 30 Palestinians were injured and 20 arrested. Nine police officers were also reported injured.

Earlier this month Abdul Qader was banned from the Old City after demonstrations also sparked by reported Israeli intrusions into the Al-Aqsa compound.

Ali Abu Shaikha, a senior leader in the Islamic Movement based inside Israel was also banned from the Old City for a week.

The Israeli police also decided to reopen Al-Aqsa to worshipers and visitors on Monday, Army Radio reported. An increased police presence continued in the vicinity of the mosque.

On Sunday evening Israel’s Jerusalem Juvenile Court released five Palestinian-Israelis who were arrested in connection with the riots, according to the website of the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. The five reportedly came to Jerusalem from the Arab-Israeli town of Umm Al-Fahm on Saturday night and slept in the mosque in anticipation of an Israeli intrusion.

Believed by Muslims to be the spot where Muhammad ascended to heaven, Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam. The compound, with its golden Dome of the Rock, is also a focal point of Palestinian national pride. Both holy sites sit atop what Israelis and many Jews refer to as the Temple Mount, where the Jewish First and Second Temples were thought to have stood.

More provocation from Israeli extremists

Also on Sunday evening a right-wing Israeli organization calling itself the Organization for Human Rights on the Temple Mount (OHRTM), called on Jews to go to the holy site.

The group organized an event in Jerusalem calling for increased mobilization by Israel’s far right, which seeks to claim the Al-Aqsa compound, destroy the mosques and build a third Jewish temple.

Speaking at the evemnt Professor Hillel Weiss said, "The [third] temple must be built now. The mosques do not have to be destroyed in order for us to do this," according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

The conference was attended by a number of Knesset members and leading rabbis, many of them linked with the settler movement.

The chief rabbi of the settlement of Kiryat Arba, in the West Bank city of Hebron, Dov Lior told the conference, "It is vital that the Israeli people visit [Al-Aqsa]. We are suffering because a large segment of the populations is indifferent towards this issue. … Reclaiming our sovereignty over [Al-Aqsa] will bring redemption closer.”

Far-right Israeli activist Moshe Feiglin told the conference that the Temple Mount riots and the Goldstone Report, which accuses the Israeli military of committing war crimes during its winter war on Gaza, both constitute attempts to "undermine our legitimacy in this land,” according to the newspaper.