Israeli Terrorists Set Fire To Bedouin Tent In West Bank

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers torched a Bedouin tent in the area of Ein Samiya near Kafr Malik village in northern Ramallah Thursday morning, local sources told Ma’an. A group of Israeli settlers raided the village of Ein Samiya and threw flammable material on a Bedouin tent before the residents noticed and attacked the settlers, making them immediately flee the area.An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed the attack but could give no further details. The fire caused substantial damages to the tent but locals were able to put the fire out without any injuries, locals said.Israeli settlers also sprayed “price tag” near the scene and signed slogans calling for the killing of Palestinians and expelling them out of their lands.Locals said the Israeli forces and police arrived to the area, investigated the incident and took fingerprints.On Wednesday, Israeli forces had closed the Ein Samiya area road and prevented Palestinians from using it.Recent weeks have seen a rise in Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

An 18-month-old Palestinian, Ali Dawabsha, was burned alive when alleged Israeli extremists firebombed their home at the end of last month in the village of Duma near Nablus. The toddler’s father, Saad Dawabsha, succumbed to his wounds a week later, after suffering third degree burns on 80 percent of his body.On Saturday morning, Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home with firebombs and rocks in an area east of Tayba in the Ramallah district. The bombs landed outside of the house, causing no damage, locals told Ma’an. Israeli settlers have carried out at least 120 attacks on Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank since the start of this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

(MaanImages/Zakariyya al-Sidda)

(MaanImages/Zakariyya al-Sidda)

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(MaanImages/Zakariyya al-Sidda)

(MaanImages/Zakariyya al-Sidda)

(MaanImages/Zakariyya al-Sidda)

(MaanImages/Zakariyya al-Sidda)

More Apartheid: Palestinian Terror Attack Victims Not Eligible For Israeli Government Compensation

Palestinian family can apply to exceptions committee, while settlers are automatically compensated for similar attacks.
Revital Hovel For Haaretz
Though there’s no dispute in Israel that the July 31 arson attack on the Dawabsheh family in Duma was a terror attack, the family won’t be entitled to the government compensation granted Israeli victims of terror.
The attack killed two members of the family, father Sa’ad and 18-month-old Ali, and seriously wounded the mother and the elder son, aged 4.

The law governing compensation to victims of terror applies only to Israeli citizens and residents – including West Bank settlers, who live in territory Israel never annexed. In 2006, following a shooting spree by a Jewish gunman the previous year that killed four Arabs in Shfaram, the law was amended to encompass Jewish terror attacks against Israeli Arabs as well, as long as they “stem from the Israeli-Arab conflict.” But it still applies only to Israeli citizens or residents.
Thus to seek compensation under the law, the Dawabsheh family would have to apply to a special interministerial exceptions committee that has operated under the Defense Ministry’s auspices since 1999.

Earlier this week, MK Yousef Jabareen (Joint Arab List) asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to apply the law to all Palestinian victims of Jewish terror.

“The case of the Dawabsheh family underscores the absurdity that exists today in the legal and political arrangements related to paying compensation,” he wrote. “While the legal situation in Israel ensures payment of compensation for life and property to victims of attacks perpetrated by Palestinians, Palestinian victims of attacks perpetrated by Jews aren’t entitled to any compensation. In practice, this situation leaves the Dawabsheh family with no compensation, whereas Jewish victims in similar circumstances would be entitled to compensation from the state.”
Jabareen said this constitutes unacceptable discrimination. “Victims of nationalist attacks should be entitled to compensation from the state regardless of whether they are Jews or Arabs,” he wrote.

Dan Yakir, chief legal counsel of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, concurred. “This is another example of the intolerable gap between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, in every walk of life,” he said.

While settlers are compensated for terror attacks automatically, a Palestinian victim of terror must apply to the exceptions committee “and essentially ask the Defense Ministry to help him as an act of grace,” Yakir continued. “This is intolerable, especially in light of the incident’s severity and the severe harm the Dawabsheh family suffered. The Defense Ministry should grant full compensation to the family of its own initiative, even without a request from them.”

He also proposed that the Israel Defense Forces commander in the West Bank, who is technically the sovereign there, issue an order applying the principles of the Israeli law to Palestinian terror victims. “This is his moral obligation, and also his obligation under international law,” Yakir said.

Jabareen’s letter to Weinstein noted that the harm suffered by the Dawabshehs was “terrible and irreversible. No amount of money can compensate the family for its losses.”

Nevertheless, he added, that doesn’t justify refusing to pay it, especially since Palestinians are in extra need of such help.

“This is a population without means or resources, which has been under Israeli control for about five decades,” he wrote. “Therefore, the state cannot deny its obligation to take care of this population. As long as the state controls the Palestinian territories, it is obligated under international law to protect Palestinian residents of the place, including the obligation to compensate them for crimes of hatred and racism against them simply because they are Palestinians.”

Weinstein’s office said that Jabareen’s letter had been received “and will be answered in the customary fashion.”

Headlines From Palestine: August 10, 2015

PLO Official Visits Iran To Discuss Bilateral Relations

President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday sent an envoy to Iran in an attempt to improve bilateral relations with the Islamic Republic.

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Israeli Occupation Doctors Refusing To Force Feed Palestinian Hunger Striker (Small Victory)

Israeli hospital doctors on Sunday refused to force feed a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike more than 50 days, an international rights group said

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No Surprise : Israeli Occupation Releases Suspects Held In Terrorist Arson Attack

Israel has released all suspects detained in raids as part of a probe into the firebombing of a Palestinian home that killed an 18-month-old child and his father, Israeli authorities said Monday.

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Israeli Occupation Troops Demolish Palestinian House In Salfit, Deliver Notices In Nablus= War Crimes

Israeli forces on Monday demolished a home under construction in the village of Deir Ballut in western Salfit and delivered demolition orders in western Nablus, locals said.

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Israeli Occupation Orders Palestinians To Halt Work On EU Funded Water Tanks (Water Apartheid)

Israeli forces ordered the village council of Khellet al-Mayyeh, a locale to the east of Yatta, south of Hebron, to stop the construction work on two water tanks funded by the European Union, Sunday reported to a local activist.

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Israeli Occupation Troops Demolish Palestinian House In Salfit, Deliver Notices In Nablus= War Crimes

SALFIT (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Monday demolished a home under construction in the village of Deir Ballut in western Salfit and delivered demolition orders in western Nablus, locals said.

Dawood Abdullah, a local activist, told Ma’an that large numbers of Israeli troops escorted two bulldozers into Deir Ballut in the early hours of Monday and immediately started to tear down an incomplete house belonging to Adnan Abdullah.The activist said that the home, which was in an area known locally as Khallat Qaswal, was one of 60 houses in the village located in land classified as Area C.Adnan Abdullah, the owner of the house, told Ma’an that the Israeli authorities issued a demolition order three years ago.He said: “Since then, I have been trying to do anything to cancel this decision, but nothing worked out.”He said that the last demolition notice came was delivered two months ago.Separately, locals in western Nablus said that Israeli forces on Monday issued a number of demolition notices to Palestinian families living near an Israeli military checkpoint known as al-Hamra.The notices told the families to evacuate their homes in 10 days, after which point the buildings would be demolished.The owners of the houses were identified as Hayel Bsharat and Muhammad Hayel Bsharat. Under the Oslo Accords, building permits must be approved by the Israeli Civil Administration for construction to take place in Area C.As a result of rarely-approved permits, however, Palestinian residents are often forced to build structures without permits, which are liable to be torn down later by Israeli forces.Last year Israel demolished 601 Palestinian-owned structures, displacing 1,215 people.The UN said it was the highest annual number of people affected by the policy since it began keeping records in 2008.

No Surprise : Israeli Occupation Releases Suspects Held In Terrorist Arson Attack

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has released all suspects detained in raids as part of a probe into the firebombing of a Palestinian home that killed an 18-month-old child and his father, Israeli authorities said Monday.They did not provide the number of those detained in the raids early Sunday in Jewish settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank near the Palestinian village of Duma, where the July 31 firebombing occurred.Outposts in the Israeli-occupied West Bank are notorious for housing young Jewish hardliners, referred to as hilltop youth.”All those arrested yesterday for interrogation have been released,” a spokeswoman for the Shin Bet domestic security agency told AFP, without providing further details.The raids came as Israel seeks to crack down on Jewish extremists following the firebombing that also critically wounded the toddler’s mother and four-year-old brother.The attack has led to pressure on the government to act against Jewish extremists accused of being behind a series of hate crimes and nationalist attacks, including a stabbing attack at a Gay Pride parade in West Jerusalem last month that killed a 16-year-old girl and wounded five people.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labelled the firebombing “terrorism” and pledged to use all legal means to track down the perpetrators.However, many Palestinians have pointed out that Israeli government policies — including support for settlement expansion and frequent impunity for settlers — allowed for the firebombing to take place.In addition to Sunday’s raids, three alleged Jewish extremists have been placed in a controversial form of detention without trial usually used for Palestinians.Over 85 percent of investigations into settler violence are closed without indictments, Israeli rights group Yesh Din says.The 100 or so Jewish outposts in the occupied West Bank are not officially recognized by the Israeli government but receive support and assistance from government ministries.Since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has built over 125 Jewish-only settlements across the territories with a settler population of over 500,000, in contravention of international law.

Israeli Occupation Doctors Refusing To Force Feed Palestinian Hunger Striker (Small Victory)

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli hospital doctors on Sunday refused to force feed a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike more than 50 days, an international rights group said.Physicians for Human Rights Israel tweeted on Sunday afternoon: “Hunger striker Muhammad Allan’s hospital doctors refuse to treat him against his will.”The rights group could not be reached for further comment and the claim could not be verified.Israeli authorities on Saturday declared their intention to force feed prisoner Muhammed Allan, who on Sunday marked his 56th day on hunger strike.If carried out, it would be the first case since the adoption last month of a new Israeli law permitting the practice.The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Friday that Allan, who has been held without trial since November, was “at immediate risk” of death after fasting for 50 days.Allan’s attorney Jamil al-Khatib said he had informed Allan of Israel’s plans to force feed him, but said that it had not changed “his intention to continue his strike.”He added that Allan was placed in intensive hospital care when his body became unable to absorb drinking water.Palestinian health minister warned Saturday that the force feeding procedure itself would endanger Allaan’s life.Allaan, himself a lawyer, is being held under a procedure allowing indefinite internment without trial or charge.On July 30, the Israeli Knesset approved a law allowing prisoners on hunger strike facing death to be force fed, sparking criticism from rights groups and doctors.The Israeli Medical Association called the law “damaging and unnecessary,” stressing that its doctors would “continue to act according to medical ethics, which prohibit doctors from participating in torturing prisoners.”In 2014, the association issued guidelines for the treatment of hunger strikers, saying that all treatment must be carried out “in accordance with the patient’s free will.”It added: “In accordance with generally accepted ethical principles in Israel and abroad, forced medical treatment, including force-feeding, is forbidden.”The UN issued a statement on Sunday condemning the new law, saying that it was a violation of the “fundamental human right” to peaceful protest.The ICRC also opposes forced feeding, saying: “It is essential that the detainees’ choices be respected and their human dignity preserved.”International guidelines for physicians, particularly the Tokyo Declaration, state that prisoners capable of rational judgement “shall not be fed artificially.”

Israeli Terrorists Fire Bomb Palestinian Home In Duma After Deadly Arson Attack Last Week

NABLUS (Ma’an) — Extremist Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home with fire bombs and rocks in the village of Duma south of Nablus in the northern West Bank on Saturday morning, Palestinian officials told Ma’an.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that “a number of extremist settlers hurled two fire bombs at the home of Mahmoud Fazza al-Kaabna.”

The fire bombs, Daghlas said, landed on the outer wall of the home near a window, but did not make it inside the house. The attackers also hurled stones at the house, with one of them hitting al-Kaabna in the abdomen. The settler attack took place a week after the deadly arson attack which killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha and his father Saad from the same village. The mother Riham and 4-year-old brother Ahmad are still struggling for their lives after they sustained third-degree burns on most of their bodies.

Headlines From Palestine: August 4, 2015

Israeli Occupation Forces Demolish Palestinian Homes In Dahmash

Israeli occupation bulldozers on Tuesday morning tore down three homes in Dahmash town near occupied Ramla, under the pretext of no building permit.

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Israeli Occupation Forces Detain 21 Palestinians, Summon Three From West Bank Districts

Israeli forces detained early Tuesday 21 Palestinians and summoned three others from various West Bank districts, said security sources.

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Israeli Occupation Issues Administrative Detention Orders Against 32 Palestinian Prisoners

Israeli authorities issued administrative detention orders against 32 Palestinians, Monday reported the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club (PPC).

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Israeli Extremists Set Fire To Palestinian Owned Olive Trees In Qalqilya

Israeli settlers on Monday everning have torched tens of olive trees in private Palestinian land in Azzoon town east of Qalilya, northern West Bank.

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Palestine Submits Report On Israeli Settler Violence To ICC

The Palestinian Authority filed a report on settler violence with the International Criminal Court on Monday, following an arson attack in the West Bank last week that killed an 18-month-old Palestinian toddler.

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Palestine Submits Report On Israeli Settler Violence To ICC

BETHELEHM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority filed a report on settler violence with the International Criminal Court on Monday, following an arson attack in the West Bank last week that killed an 18-month-old Palestinian toddler.Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told Ma’an that the file was handed over to the ICC’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda during a meeting at the international court’s headquarters in the Hague.According to the PA’s official news agency, Wafa, the meeting discussed a preliminary probe the ICC is conducting on possible war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.The probe, which was opened on January, is not a full investigation but an examination of available information to decide whether there is a “reasonable basis” to proceed with an investigation.Maliki told Ma’an that he discussed many important issues relating to the Palestinian cause and recent Israeli violations against Palestinians, adding that it was one of the “best” meetings he had held with Bensouda.According to Wafa, the foreign minister stressed that “the continuation of the Israeli occupation and its policies, including its settlement expansion policy, along with the impunity it grants to settlers,” is encouraging violent attacks such as last week’s arson attack.The 18-month-old toddler, Ali Saad Dawabsha, was killed in a firebombing carried out by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Duma south of Nablus on Friday.Israeli settlers reportedly smashed the windows of two homes in the village before throwing flammable liquids and Molotov cocktails inside, killing the toddler who was trapped inside one of the homes and critically injuring his parents and four-year-old brother.The crime has sparked international outrage, although many Palestinians have pointed out that settler attacks against the Palestinian community are common and often go unpunished by the Israeli authorities.Israeli settlers have carried out at least 120 attacks on Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank since the start of this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.Only 1.9 percent of complaints submitted by Palestinians against Israeli settler attacks result in a conviction, the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din reported.The ICC, set up in 2002, is the world’s only permanent independent body to try the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.

Israeli Extremists Set Fire To Palestinian Owned Olive Trees In Qalqilya

PNN/ Qalqilya/
Israeli settlers on Monday everning have torched tens of olive trees in private Palestinian land in Azzoon town east of Qalilya, northern West Bank.

Security sources said that civil defense forces headed to the land, and put off the fire which had already damaged a number of trees.

Settlers by then have fled the scene.

Israeli settler attacks on trees have been on the increase now, especially with the support of Israeli soldiers and police which destroy trees under security pretexts.

On Sunday morning, a horde of Israeli settlers set fire to dozens of Palestinian olive orchards and cultivated lands in al-Mugheir village, east of Ramallah city, moments after they failed to torch a Palestinian family home.

According to the Palestinian Information Center, eyewitnesses said a gang of Israeli vandals residing in an illegal nearby settlement tried to burn down a Palestinian family home before they were stopped by the local residents.

The Israeli occupation forces showed up at the scene and attacked the Palestinian locals with random spates of tear gas canisters and rubber bullets.

On 22 July, IOF have uprooted a number of trees, destroying an agricultural land in Beit Oula village near Hebron, under security pretext.

The land and trees are property of citizen Faried Atrash. Israeli forces have previously told him to uproot the trees for alleged security reasons, but he refused. IOF then have savagely destroyed the land, ensuring that he can not fix again.