22 apr 2019
The boy was evacuated to a Palestinian hospital where he said he was merely present at a funeral adjacent to the stone throwing at IDF forces; father: 'only a sicko shoots a blindfolded boy'
A hospitalized Palestinian teen said Monday he was shot in his thighs by Israeli soldiers after he tried fleeing while he was handcuffed and blindfolded during clashes near the town of Tekoa, south of Bethlehem, last Thursday.
The IDF said it was investigating the incident, which it said took place as Palestinian youths were throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
A hospitalized Palestinian teen said Monday he was shot in his thighs by Israeli soldiers after he tried fleeing while he was handcuffed and blindfolded during clashes near the town of Tekoa, south of Bethlehem, last Thursday.
The IDF said it was investigating the incident, which it said took place as Palestinian youths were throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
Osama Hajahjeh, 16, said he was trying to run from soldiers when he was shot. He said the incident began after a funeral for a school teacher in his village of Tekoa, who had been hit by a car driven by an Israeli while walking at a busy intersection.
Hajahjeh said school was let out early for students to attend the funeral. After the burial, he said he was tackled by a soldier who jumped out of an olive grove and forced him to the ground. He said his hands were cuffed and his eyes covered with a cloth blindfold.
After the arrest, he said he could hear Palestinian youths shouting at the soldiers, while soldiers yelled back in Arabic and Hebrew.
"I got confused" and stood up, he said. "Immediately, I was shot in my right leg. Then I tried to run, and I was shot in my left leg and fell on the ground," he said, speaking from his hospital bed in the West Bank town of Beit Jala south of Jerusalem. Doctors said he is in stable condition.
A photo captured by a local photographer shows soldiers appearing to pursue a fleeing Hajahjeh with his eyes covered and hands tied behind his back.
The shooting set off a chaotic scene. Soldiers and Palestinians shouted at each other as the teen lay on the ground. One soldier took off the teen's belt and used it as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
Amateur video shows a masked soldier screaming and pointing a pistol at a group of anguished Palestinians as the teen lies on the ground. Later, a soldier scuffles with residents as another soldier fires into the air. A soldier and two Palestinian men then carry away the teen to medical care. video
In a statement, the military said the teen had been arrested after participating in "massive stone throwing" at Israeli forces.
"The detainee was held at a nearby spot and began running away from the force. The soldiers chased him, during which they fired toward his lower abdomen," it said.
The statement did not say anything about him being blindfolded or cuffed, but said the military offered medical treatment after the shooting and was investigating the event.
Hajahjeh's father, Ali, said he was thankful a soldier gave his son medical care. But he said his son never should have been shot to begin with.
"Only a sick person would shoot a blindfolded boy," he said.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said the incident was the latest in a series of what it called unjustified shootings on Palestinian teens and young men. It says four Palestinians in their late teens or early twenties have been killed in the West Bank since early March.
The army has challenged the Palestinian witness accounts, but also frequently announces investigations into disputed cases.
B'Tselem has long criticized military investigations, saying they rarely result in punishments and alleging they're used to whitewash abuses by troops.
"Like the previous four cases we investigated, this is an example of Israel's reckless use of lethal fire, and the fact that the human lives of Palestinians count very little in the eyes of the army," said Roy Yellin, a spokesman for the group.
Hajahjeh said school was let out early for students to attend the funeral. After the burial, he said he was tackled by a soldier who jumped out of an olive grove and forced him to the ground. He said his hands were cuffed and his eyes covered with a cloth blindfold.
After the arrest, he said he could hear Palestinian youths shouting at the soldiers, while soldiers yelled back in Arabic and Hebrew.
"I got confused" and stood up, he said. "Immediately, I was shot in my right leg. Then I tried to run, and I was shot in my left leg and fell on the ground," he said, speaking from his hospital bed in the West Bank town of Beit Jala south of Jerusalem. Doctors said he is in stable condition.
A photo captured by a local photographer shows soldiers appearing to pursue a fleeing Hajahjeh with his eyes covered and hands tied behind his back.
The shooting set off a chaotic scene. Soldiers and Palestinians shouted at each other as the teen lay on the ground. One soldier took off the teen's belt and used it as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
Amateur video shows a masked soldier screaming and pointing a pistol at a group of anguished Palestinians as the teen lies on the ground. Later, a soldier scuffles with residents as another soldier fires into the air. A soldier and two Palestinian men then carry away the teen to medical care. video
In a statement, the military said the teen had been arrested after participating in "massive stone throwing" at Israeli forces.
"The detainee was held at a nearby spot and began running away from the force. The soldiers chased him, during which they fired toward his lower abdomen," it said.
The statement did not say anything about him being blindfolded or cuffed, but said the military offered medical treatment after the shooting and was investigating the event.
Hajahjeh's father, Ali, said he was thankful a soldier gave his son medical care. But he said his son never should have been shot to begin with.
"Only a sick person would shoot a blindfolded boy," he said.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said the incident was the latest in a series of what it called unjustified shootings on Palestinian teens and young men. It says four Palestinians in their late teens or early twenties have been killed in the West Bank since early March.
The army has challenged the Palestinian witness accounts, but also frequently announces investigations into disputed cases.
B'Tselem has long criticized military investigations, saying they rarely result in punishments and alleging they're used to whitewash abuses by troops.
"Like the previous four cases we investigated, this is an example of Israel's reckless use of lethal fire, and the fact that the human lives of Palestinians count very little in the eyes of the army," said Roy Yellin, a spokesman for the group.
An Israeli court ordered the eviction of Israeli settlers from a Palestinian-owned home that they held illegally since 2005 in Hebron City, in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, on Monday.
Hebrew-language news outlets reported that the Jerusalem Magistrate Court rejected claims by Israeli settlers, stating that given their "long occupation" of the property and their investments to improve it, the home should remain theirs.
The court rejected the claims and ordered the Israeli settlers to pay the Palestinian family 580,000 shekels ($161,000) as compensation for the years it was held illegally by the settlers.
The legal owners, the Bakri family, were represented by attorney, Samer Shehadeh, who confirmed that the Israeli settlers were appealing the court ruling.
The home is located in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood, in the center of Hebron City, and sits on 0.75 acres of land.
Palestinian residents in Hebron said that Tal Construction & Investments LTD., the company which bought the home based on forged documents, is registered as a Jordanian company, however, is operated by Israeli settlers who aim to promote illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank.
Tal Construction bought the Hebron home in 2005 from Hani al-Batash, who claimed to have legal rights over the property, for $300,000 and handed it over to Israeli families.
Nevertheless, Israeli police launched an investigation into the issue and determined that the documents used during the transaction were forged and that al-Batash was not the legal owner of the property.
The area of Tel Rumeida has long been a flash-point for tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers and military, as it is located near illegal Israeli settlements whose residents are notoriously aggressive toward Palestinians.
Tel Rumeida is located within the area of the city designated as H2, an area taking over the bulk of Hebron's Old City that is under full Israeli military control, and the site of five illegal Israeli settlements which continually expand into surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods.
The Israeli-controlled H2 area is home to 30,000 Palestinians and around 800 Israeli settlers who live under the protection of Israeli forces.
Some 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers now live under the protection of the Israeli military in the Old City of Hebron, surrounded by more than 30,000 Palestinians.
Hebrew-language news outlets reported that the Jerusalem Magistrate Court rejected claims by Israeli settlers, stating that given their "long occupation" of the property and their investments to improve it, the home should remain theirs.
The court rejected the claims and ordered the Israeli settlers to pay the Palestinian family 580,000 shekels ($161,000) as compensation for the years it was held illegally by the settlers.
The legal owners, the Bakri family, were represented by attorney, Samer Shehadeh, who confirmed that the Israeli settlers were appealing the court ruling.
The home is located in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood, in the center of Hebron City, and sits on 0.75 acres of land.
Palestinian residents in Hebron said that Tal Construction & Investments LTD., the company which bought the home based on forged documents, is registered as a Jordanian company, however, is operated by Israeli settlers who aim to promote illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank.
Tal Construction bought the Hebron home in 2005 from Hani al-Batash, who claimed to have legal rights over the property, for $300,000 and handed it over to Israeli families.
Nevertheless, Israeli police launched an investigation into the issue and determined that the documents used during the transaction were forged and that al-Batash was not the legal owner of the property.
The area of Tel Rumeida has long been a flash-point for tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers and military, as it is located near illegal Israeli settlements whose residents are notoriously aggressive toward Palestinians.
Tel Rumeida is located within the area of the city designated as H2, an area taking over the bulk of Hebron's Old City that is under full Israeli military control, and the site of five illegal Israeli settlements which continually expand into surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods.
The Israeli-controlled H2 area is home to 30,000 Palestinians and around 800 Israeli settlers who live under the protection of Israeli forces.
Some 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers now live under the protection of the Israeli military in the Old City of Hebron, surrounded by more than 30,000 Palestinians.
The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies reported that Israeli military courts have imposed fines, against Palestinian minor detainees, amount to 170.000 NIS during the first quarter of this year.
The spokesperson for the center, Reyad Al-Ashqar, said that Israeli courts impose heavy fines on most detained children , in addition to the actual prison terms.
He added that the fines constitute a heavy burden on the detainees’ families and an arbitrary punishment exercised, by the courts of occupation, against them, with the aim of terrorizing and preventing them from participating in resistance actions.
He explained that the total amount of fines that Ofra prison imposed against child detainees, during the first three months of this year, adds up to 170.000 NIS.
Al-Ashqar noted that this policy is a clear and political theft aimed at looting money from the families of the children, in order to pressure and blackmail them.
He pointed out, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, that Israeli military courts impose heavy fines for trivial reasons.
Al-Ashqar called on human rights institutions to intervene, in protecting child detainees from Israeli violations.
The spokesperson for the center, Reyad Al-Ashqar, said that Israeli courts impose heavy fines on most detained children , in addition to the actual prison terms.
He added that the fines constitute a heavy burden on the detainees’ families and an arbitrary punishment exercised, by the courts of occupation, against them, with the aim of terrorizing and preventing them from participating in resistance actions.
He explained that the total amount of fines that Ofra prison imposed against child detainees, during the first three months of this year, adds up to 170.000 NIS.
Al-Ashqar noted that this policy is a clear and political theft aimed at looting money from the families of the children, in order to pressure and blackmail them.
He pointed out, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, that Israeli military courts impose heavy fines for trivial reasons.
Al-Ashqar called on human rights institutions to intervene, in protecting child detainees from Israeli violations.
17 apr 2019
An Israeli court ordered the deportation of Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine director, on Tuesday, and ordered him to leave Israel within two weeks.
The ruling by the Jerusalem District Court came in response to a lawsuit filed in May 2018 by the Human Rights Watch organization and Omar Shakir challenging the Israeli government’s decision to revoke his work permit and the constitutionality of a 2017 Israeli law barring entry to Israel for “people who advocate so-called boycotts of Israel or Israeli settlements.”
The 2017 Israeli Law on Entry authorizes the interior minister to refuse entry to activists or representatives of organizations who publicly call for a boycott of Israel or have made a commitment to participate in such a boycott.
Israel's Interior Minister ordered Shakir's deportation last year, calling him a "boycott activist," a claim that both HRW and Shakir have denied.
The court rejected Shakir’s appeal based on a determination that he “continuously” called for boycotts of Israel, citing his student activism dating back to 2006 before joining HRW.
The court granted Shakir until May 1st to leave Israel. However, HRW will appeal the decision to Israel’s Supreme Court and seek an injunction allowing Shakir to remain in Israel until the appeal is heard.
Tom Porteous, deputy program director at HRW, “Israel portrays itself as the region’s only democracy, but is set to deport a rights defender over his peaceful advocacy.”
Porteous stressed, “The decision sends the chilling message that those who criticize the involvement of businesses in serious abuses in Israeli settlements risk being barred from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.”
Human Rights Watch is an independent, international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that promotes respect for human rights and international law, and monitors rights violations in close to 100 counties across the world.
The ruling by the Jerusalem District Court came in response to a lawsuit filed in May 2018 by the Human Rights Watch organization and Omar Shakir challenging the Israeli government’s decision to revoke his work permit and the constitutionality of a 2017 Israeli law barring entry to Israel for “people who advocate so-called boycotts of Israel or Israeli settlements.”
The 2017 Israeli Law on Entry authorizes the interior minister to refuse entry to activists or representatives of organizations who publicly call for a boycott of Israel or have made a commitment to participate in such a boycott.
Israel's Interior Minister ordered Shakir's deportation last year, calling him a "boycott activist," a claim that both HRW and Shakir have denied.
The court rejected Shakir’s appeal based on a determination that he “continuously” called for boycotts of Israel, citing his student activism dating back to 2006 before joining HRW.
The court granted Shakir until May 1st to leave Israel. However, HRW will appeal the decision to Israel’s Supreme Court and seek an injunction allowing Shakir to remain in Israel until the appeal is heard.
Tom Porteous, deputy program director at HRW, “Israel portrays itself as the region’s only democracy, but is set to deport a rights defender over his peaceful advocacy.”
Porteous stressed, “The decision sends the chilling message that those who criticize the involvement of businesses in serious abuses in Israeli settlements risk being barred from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.”
Human Rights Watch is an independent, international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that promotes respect for human rights and international law, and monitors rights violations in close to 100 counties across the world.
16 mar 2019
An Israeli court rejected an appeal by Israeli settlement organization "Regavim" to demolish of a Palestinian school in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, upon efforts by Palestinian activists from the Anti Wall and Settlement Committee in Bethlehem.
Head of the committee, Hasan Breijieh, said that the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the organization's appeal to demolish the Tahaddi 5 School; the organization had presented the appeal to demolish the school claiming that owners of the land, on which the school is built, do not have documents proving their ownership in order to issue a permit for the school.
The school is located in the Beit Taamar village, east of Bethlehem City.
Breijieh added the court rejected the appeal upon blueprints of the land and the school proving that all procedures are legal.
The Tahaddi 5 School, that serves 54 Palestinian students, was built and opened in 2017; the school was demolished by Israeli forces and rebuilt in a matter of days.
Israeli forces regularly confiscate and demolish Palestinian structures deemed as illegal by the Israeli government, most commonly in Area C, the area of the West Bank under full Israeli security and civilian control.
Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in Area C, forcing most Palestinians to build without permits.
All building in Area C, whether by Palestinians or Jewish settlers, comes under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Civil Administration, which has full control over all zoning and planning issues.
In practice, almost all Palestinian applications for a building permit are rejected, with the Civil Administration granting only a handful of permits.
Israeli court rejects settlers’ petition to raze Palestinian school
Israel’s higher court of justice rejected a petition filed by a Jewish settler group calling for demolishing a Palestinian school in Beit Ta’mir village, east of Bethlehem.
Local official Hasan Berejiya said that anti-settlement activists extracted a decision from the court against the petition, which called for demolishing Tahadi 5 School in the village.
Berejiya affirmed that the settler group was thinking there were no Palestinian ownership documents for the land or signatures from the owners allowing the school to be built on their land.
Tahadi 5 School was built and opened in 2017 and later was demolished by the Israeli occupation authority but rebuilt within days.
Head of the committee, Hasan Breijieh, said that the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the organization's appeal to demolish the Tahaddi 5 School; the organization had presented the appeal to demolish the school claiming that owners of the land, on which the school is built, do not have documents proving their ownership in order to issue a permit for the school.
The school is located in the Beit Taamar village, east of Bethlehem City.
Breijieh added the court rejected the appeal upon blueprints of the land and the school proving that all procedures are legal.
The Tahaddi 5 School, that serves 54 Palestinian students, was built and opened in 2017; the school was demolished by Israeli forces and rebuilt in a matter of days.
Israeli forces regularly confiscate and demolish Palestinian structures deemed as illegal by the Israeli government, most commonly in Area C, the area of the West Bank under full Israeli security and civilian control.
Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in Area C, forcing most Palestinians to build without permits.
All building in Area C, whether by Palestinians or Jewish settlers, comes under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Civil Administration, which has full control over all zoning and planning issues.
In practice, almost all Palestinian applications for a building permit are rejected, with the Civil Administration granting only a handful of permits.
Israeli court rejects settlers’ petition to raze Palestinian school
Israel’s higher court of justice rejected a petition filed by a Jewish settler group calling for demolishing a Palestinian school in Beit Ta’mir village, east of Bethlehem.
Local official Hasan Berejiya said that anti-settlement activists extracted a decision from the court against the petition, which called for demolishing Tahadi 5 School in the village.
Berejiya affirmed that the settler group was thinking there were no Palestinian ownership documents for the land or signatures from the owners allowing the school to be built on their land.
Tahadi 5 School was built and opened in 2017 and later was demolished by the Israeli occupation authority but rebuilt within days.
13 mar 2019
Yinon Reuveni
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine condemned the decision of an Israeli court to acquit two Israeli settlers, for torching Jerusalem's Dormition Abbey in February 2016, on the basis of “insufficient evidence,” on Tuesday.
The committee said in a press release that the Israeli court’s decision is a “deviation from justice, even in the courts, when it comes to convicting Jews while arresting young Palestinians without charge or evidence or trials and for long periods of times that can reach dozens of years.”
The committee added that these racist and subversive actions by extremist Israelis under the protection of the courts and the Israeli government will lead to the creation of future Israeli generations molded with ideas and actions hostile toward the Palestinians.
One of the Israeli settlers, Yinon Reuveni, 23, was also accused of arson of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, in June 2015.
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine condemned the decision of an Israeli court to acquit two Israeli settlers, for torching Jerusalem's Dormition Abbey in February 2016, on the basis of “insufficient evidence,” on Tuesday.
The committee said in a press release that the Israeli court’s decision is a “deviation from justice, even in the courts, when it comes to convicting Jews while arresting young Palestinians without charge or evidence or trials and for long periods of times that can reach dozens of years.”
The committee added that these racist and subversive actions by extremist Israelis under the protection of the courts and the Israeli government will lead to the creation of future Israeli generations molded with ideas and actions hostile toward the Palestinians.
One of the Israeli settlers, Yinon Reuveni, 23, was also accused of arson of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, in June 2015.
7 mar 2019
A Palestinian citizen has managed to extract an Israeli court decision confirming his ownership of his land in Beit Jala town, west of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
Local official Hasan Berijiya stated on Wednesday that the landowner, Ramzi Qaisiya, had been fighting a legal battle over the ownership of his land in al-Makhrur area of Beit Jala against an Israeli company for about 10 years.
However, Qaisiya, who owns documents proving his ownership of the property, was able finally to obtain a court verdict asserting that he is the rightful owner of the land, Berijiya added.
According to Berijiya, Qaisiya has suffered a lot from repeated assaults by Israeli soldiers and settlers, and his restaurant, which he built on his own land, was demolished several times at the pretext that the land belonged to an Israeli company.
Local official Hasan Berijiya stated on Wednesday that the landowner, Ramzi Qaisiya, had been fighting a legal battle over the ownership of his land in al-Makhrur area of Beit Jala against an Israeli company for about 10 years.
However, Qaisiya, who owns documents proving his ownership of the property, was able finally to obtain a court verdict asserting that he is the rightful owner of the land, Berijiya added.
According to Berijiya, Qaisiya has suffered a lot from repeated assaults by Israeli soldiers and settlers, and his restaurant, which he built on his own land, was demolished several times at the pretext that the land belonged to an Israeli company.
