30 june 2019
By Asa Winstanley
The Haifa-based Palestinian human rights group Adalah has done a lot of important work over the years. Its name is Arabic for “justice”. Much of Adalah’s work focuses on the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel, or the “Palestinians of the 1948 territories” as they often describe themselves.
The group maintains an important database chronicling more than 65 laws in Israel which systematically discriminate against 20 per cent of its population. It is a fact that Israel has always been an apartheid state, not only since the Knesset passed the openly racist “Jewish Nation State Law” last summer.
That new measure did not really change much in terms of the letter of Israeli law. What it did do, though, was to explain clearly, in black and white, the motives behind much of Israel’s existing racist laws. It made things clearer, in other words, sending a signal to the Palestinian people that the historic land of Palestine – what the law terms the “Land of Israel” – belongs to the Jews alone, and no one else.
This clarity explains some of the tactical disagreements with the law that many pro-Zionist liberals had. Liberal Zionists do not disagree on the racist principle that “the right to national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people,” as the new law claims. Rather, they disagree with spelling this out in such brazen terms, leading to adverse international publicity, and the resultant decline in long term political support.
However, the naked racism of the Jewish Nation State Law is in reality only the latest such measure. As Adalah documents in detail in its database, the trail of these racist laws goes back to the very foundation of the state.
Take Israel’s 1950 “Law of Return,” for example. This law bestows upon any Jewish person in the world the right to migrate to the land of Palestine and automatically become a citizen of Israel. It applies to the children and grandchildren of Jews, as well as to their spouses, and the spouses of their children and grandchildren.
No comparable Israeli law exists guaranteeing the same rights for Palestinians, who are, after all, the indigenous people of the land. On the contrary, Palestinian refugees – expelled by force by Zionist militias over the course of several years starting in 1947 – are still excluded, despite having the right to return under international laws and conventions.
In Israel, though, laws were passed to ensure that the refugees never did or could return, starting with the 1950 “Absentees’ Property Law”. This essentially provided a legal fig leaf for the mass theft of land, homes, bank accounts and other Palestinian property on a grand scale.
The 800,000 or so Palestinian refugees – who were expelled by force, remember – were declared to be “absentees” under Israeli law, and their lands and properties were confiscated. Hundreds of Palestinian villages had in any case already been bulldozed and dynamited, wiping them off the map. Thus Israel always has been, and remains, an intrinsically racist, apartheid state.
Adalah also does lots of important work documenting Israel’s human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the parts of historic Palestine which Israel invaded and has occupied illegally since 1967. Some of this work is detailed in the racist laws database I referred to above, which also lists Israeli laws which discriminate against the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation since the June 1967 Six Day War.
Recently, Adalah obtained official Israeli documents revealing the military’s “rules of engagement”, which it uses to justify its violence against Palestinian protesters, specifically in Gaza in this case. The rules show that the Israeli military has officially ordained to itself the right to shoot unarmed Palestinian protesters in the back, people it smears and slanders as “rioters”.
Those organizing the Great March of Return protests since March last year can be targeted even when posing no threat to Israeli soldiers; even when walking away. As Adalah points out, “Israeli snipers… may open fire with live ammunition on ‘key instigators’ or ‘key rioters’ even when they are no longer participating in the protest or are resting.”
Many of the protesters in Gaza are children. Adalah says that since the marches began last year, Israel has killed 207 Palestinians during protests, including 44 children. A staggering 16,831 Palestinians have also been injured, 3,905 of them children.
The documents were presented during hearings at Israel’s high court. Disgustingly, the court ruled last year that the army was permitted to use live rounds against unarmed protesters. This is a measure that it would never sanction against Jewish protesters.
Adalah attorney Suhad Bishara explained that Israel’s fictional category of “key instigators” was “created retroactively in order to justify the shootings of people who posed no real and immediate danger to Israeli soldiers or civilians. The military’s document attempts to explain away the indiscriminate shooting of unarmed demonstrators which results from a total disregard for human life.”
The apartheid state of Israel should be held to account for such crimes against humanity.
- Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist living in London who writes about Palestine and the Middle East. He has been visiting Palestine since 2004 and is originally from south Wales. He writes for the award-winning Palestinian news site The Electronic Intifada where he is an associate editor and also a weekly column for the Middle East Monitor.
The Haifa-based Palestinian human rights group Adalah has done a lot of important work over the years. Its name is Arabic for “justice”. Much of Adalah’s work focuses on the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel, or the “Palestinians of the 1948 territories” as they often describe themselves.
The group maintains an important database chronicling more than 65 laws in Israel which systematically discriminate against 20 per cent of its population. It is a fact that Israel has always been an apartheid state, not only since the Knesset passed the openly racist “Jewish Nation State Law” last summer.
That new measure did not really change much in terms of the letter of Israeli law. What it did do, though, was to explain clearly, in black and white, the motives behind much of Israel’s existing racist laws. It made things clearer, in other words, sending a signal to the Palestinian people that the historic land of Palestine – what the law terms the “Land of Israel” – belongs to the Jews alone, and no one else.
This clarity explains some of the tactical disagreements with the law that many pro-Zionist liberals had. Liberal Zionists do not disagree on the racist principle that “the right to national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people,” as the new law claims. Rather, they disagree with spelling this out in such brazen terms, leading to adverse international publicity, and the resultant decline in long term political support.
However, the naked racism of the Jewish Nation State Law is in reality only the latest such measure. As Adalah documents in detail in its database, the trail of these racist laws goes back to the very foundation of the state.
Take Israel’s 1950 “Law of Return,” for example. This law bestows upon any Jewish person in the world the right to migrate to the land of Palestine and automatically become a citizen of Israel. It applies to the children and grandchildren of Jews, as well as to their spouses, and the spouses of their children and grandchildren.
No comparable Israeli law exists guaranteeing the same rights for Palestinians, who are, after all, the indigenous people of the land. On the contrary, Palestinian refugees – expelled by force by Zionist militias over the course of several years starting in 1947 – are still excluded, despite having the right to return under international laws and conventions.
In Israel, though, laws were passed to ensure that the refugees never did or could return, starting with the 1950 “Absentees’ Property Law”. This essentially provided a legal fig leaf for the mass theft of land, homes, bank accounts and other Palestinian property on a grand scale.
The 800,000 or so Palestinian refugees – who were expelled by force, remember – were declared to be “absentees” under Israeli law, and their lands and properties were confiscated. Hundreds of Palestinian villages had in any case already been bulldozed and dynamited, wiping them off the map. Thus Israel always has been, and remains, an intrinsically racist, apartheid state.
Adalah also does lots of important work documenting Israel’s human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the parts of historic Palestine which Israel invaded and has occupied illegally since 1967. Some of this work is detailed in the racist laws database I referred to above, which also lists Israeli laws which discriminate against the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation since the June 1967 Six Day War.
Recently, Adalah obtained official Israeli documents revealing the military’s “rules of engagement”, which it uses to justify its violence against Palestinian protesters, specifically in Gaza in this case. The rules show that the Israeli military has officially ordained to itself the right to shoot unarmed Palestinian protesters in the back, people it smears and slanders as “rioters”.
Those organizing the Great March of Return protests since March last year can be targeted even when posing no threat to Israeli soldiers; even when walking away. As Adalah points out, “Israeli snipers… may open fire with live ammunition on ‘key instigators’ or ‘key rioters’ even when they are no longer participating in the protest or are resting.”
Many of the protesters in Gaza are children. Adalah says that since the marches began last year, Israel has killed 207 Palestinians during protests, including 44 children. A staggering 16,831 Palestinians have also been injured, 3,905 of them children.
The documents were presented during hearings at Israel’s high court. Disgustingly, the court ruled last year that the army was permitted to use live rounds against unarmed protesters. This is a measure that it would never sanction against Jewish protesters.
Adalah attorney Suhad Bishara explained that Israel’s fictional category of “key instigators” was “created retroactively in order to justify the shootings of people who posed no real and immediate danger to Israeli soldiers or civilians. The military’s document attempts to explain away the indiscriminate shooting of unarmed demonstrators which results from a total disregard for human life.”
The apartheid state of Israel should be held to account for such crimes against humanity.
- Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist living in London who writes about Palestine and the Middle East. He has been visiting Palestine since 2004 and is originally from south Wales. He writes for the award-winning Palestinian news site The Electronic Intifada where he is an associate editor and also a weekly column for the Middle East Monitor.
26 june 2019
Amiram Ben Uliel in court, June 26, 2019 video
Lawyers for Amiram Ben Uliel say his silence protests partial approval for confession exacted under torture; defendant's mother-in-law says 'Arabs' actually behind arson attack Riham and Saad Dawabshe and their 18-month-old son
The Israeli accused of murdering three members of a Palestinian family in a 2015 arson attack on their home refused Wednesday to testify in his trial.
Amiram Ben Uliel is charged with killing 18-month-old Ali Dawabshe and his parents Riham and Sa'ad when their home in the West Bank village of Duma was firebombed in July 2015. The family's other son, four-year-old Ahmed, suffered major burns over more than half of his body.
According to the indictment, Ben Uliel threw a Molotov cocktail into the parents' bedroom, deliberately intending to cause death. He has also been charged with two counts of attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a crime motivated by racism.
Ben-Uliel, who was 21 at the time of the murders, declined to present his version of events at the trial in Lod District Court.
His lawyer Asher Ohayon of the Honenu organization, which offers legal services to Jews accused of terrorism, told the court that "the decision not to testify is an expression of his sense of injustice… when the court dismissed only part of his confession, even though it was made due to the torture that preceded it."
The head of the panel of judges, Ruth Lorch, asked whether Ben Uliel understood the significance of his refusal to testify, and his defense attorney said that he did.
The refusal by a defendant to testify at a criminal trial could potentially strengthen the evidence against them.
Ben Uliel's other Honenu attorney, Yitzhak Bam, said: "We disagree with the decision to accept parts of the confession. It was made as a result of torture, and I believe that it would be unfair to require the defendant to relate to this confession, which was not made voluntarily but rather out of fear of torture, on the witness stand."
The defendant's mother-in-law testified in court that the Arab assailants were behind the attack on the Dawabshe family, and not Ben Uliel.
"I know that Amiram is not connected to any terrorist incident," she said. "I am convinced to this day that the attack in Duma was carried out by Arabs."
During her own testimony, Ben Uliel's wife Orian told the court that her husband had been with her at the time of the attack.
"We lived in a truck at the time," she said. "It was never the case that Amiram did not return in the evening and left me alone in the house."
"We went to sleep together like every night. When I woke up at 4am I did not know what time it was, I looked at my phone and went back to sleep. At 5am I woke Amiram up, I left the house and told him 'look after the girl'. Any suggestion that he could have gone out at night and come back is utterly absurd. Our door was a makeshift one and very creaky; there was no way he could have gone out without me waking up. "
Ben Uliel's alleged accomplice in the attack, who is unnamed due to the fact that he was a minor at the time, last month signed a plea deal confessing to conspiracy to commit a crime motivated by racism, arson, corruption, racial prejudice, and racially motivated harm. The State Prosecutor's Office is set to request a five-and-a-half year sentence.
Lawyers for Amiram Ben Uliel say his silence protests partial approval for confession exacted under torture; defendant's mother-in-law says 'Arabs' actually behind arson attack Riham and Saad Dawabshe and their 18-month-old son
The Israeli accused of murdering three members of a Palestinian family in a 2015 arson attack on their home refused Wednesday to testify in his trial.
Amiram Ben Uliel is charged with killing 18-month-old Ali Dawabshe and his parents Riham and Sa'ad when their home in the West Bank village of Duma was firebombed in July 2015. The family's other son, four-year-old Ahmed, suffered major burns over more than half of his body.
According to the indictment, Ben Uliel threw a Molotov cocktail into the parents' bedroom, deliberately intending to cause death. He has also been charged with two counts of attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a crime motivated by racism.
Ben-Uliel, who was 21 at the time of the murders, declined to present his version of events at the trial in Lod District Court.
His lawyer Asher Ohayon of the Honenu organization, which offers legal services to Jews accused of terrorism, told the court that "the decision not to testify is an expression of his sense of injustice… when the court dismissed only part of his confession, even though it was made due to the torture that preceded it."
The head of the panel of judges, Ruth Lorch, asked whether Ben Uliel understood the significance of his refusal to testify, and his defense attorney said that he did.
The refusal by a defendant to testify at a criminal trial could potentially strengthen the evidence against them.
Ben Uliel's other Honenu attorney, Yitzhak Bam, said: "We disagree with the decision to accept parts of the confession. It was made as a result of torture, and I believe that it would be unfair to require the defendant to relate to this confession, which was not made voluntarily but rather out of fear of torture, on the witness stand."
The defendant's mother-in-law testified in court that the Arab assailants were behind the attack on the Dawabshe family, and not Ben Uliel.
"I know that Amiram is not connected to any terrorist incident," she said. "I am convinced to this day that the attack in Duma was carried out by Arabs."
During her own testimony, Ben Uliel's wife Orian told the court that her husband had been with her at the time of the attack.
"We lived in a truck at the time," she said. "It was never the case that Amiram did not return in the evening and left me alone in the house."
"We went to sleep together like every night. When I woke up at 4am I did not know what time it was, I looked at my phone and went back to sleep. At 5am I woke Amiram up, I left the house and told him 'look after the girl'. Any suggestion that he could have gone out at night and come back is utterly absurd. Our door was a makeshift one and very creaky; there was no way he could have gone out without me waking up. "
Ben Uliel's alleged accomplice in the attack, who is unnamed due to the fact that he was a minor at the time, last month signed a plea deal confessing to conspiracy to commit a crime motivated by racism, arson, corruption, racial prejudice, and racially motivated harm. The State Prosecutor's Office is set to request a five-and-a-half year sentence.
25 june 2019
A horde of Jewish settlers on Monday deployed a barbed wire fence on Palestinian-owned land in the north of Ya’bad area, southwest of Jenin.
Local official Omar al-Khatib, chief Dhaher al-Malih village in northern Ya’bad, said settlers from the illegal settlements of Shaked and Tal Menashe set up a barbed wire fence on a tract of land belonging to local residents.
Khatib said the landowners had obtained a verdict from the Israeli high court of justice prohibiting the settlers living in the area from taking any illegal steps on the land until a final decision was made in this regard.
He affirmed that the local residents are exposed to daily assaults and provocative acts by Jewish settlers in an attempt to force them to leave their areas.
Local official Omar al-Khatib, chief Dhaher al-Malih village in northern Ya’bad, said settlers from the illegal settlements of Shaked and Tal Menashe set up a barbed wire fence on a tract of land belonging to local residents.
Khatib said the landowners had obtained a verdict from the Israeli high court of justice prohibiting the settlers living in the area from taking any illegal steps on the land until a final decision was made in this regard.
He affirmed that the local residents are exposed to daily assaults and provocative acts by Jewish settlers in an attempt to force them to leave their areas.
23 june 2019
The District Court of Jerusalem has ruled to evict the heirs of the late Mariam Abu Zweir from their property in the neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh in Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center / Silwan said that the judges refused the appeal filed by the heirs of Abu Zweir family against the decision to evict them from their property issued by the Israeli Magistrate Court at the end of 2018. video
The center added that the settlers gave the family from 8-28 July to completely vacate the property, with the possibility of eviction during that period. The property consists of a house in which Mrs. Elham Siam and her four children live, in addition to a land of about half a Dunum, and a warehouse.
Elad settlement association also demands that the family pay “rent” for the property for the past years with a value of NIS 400 thousand, in addition to lawyers’ fees of NIS 80 thousand.
The heirs of Abu Zweir family have been engaged in a struggle in the Israeli courts for 24 years to protect the property and to prove ownership of it and to refute the claims of Elad settlement association. During the past years, Elad association has worked hard to seize the property in several ways.
The first is through collusion between brokers and clients in getting the fingerprints of the late Abu Zweir on a document where she would give three of her sons the right to the property while she was dying. However, in 1999 the Israeli courts rejected Elad’s claims, stating that the property belongs to her eight children, according to the heirs of the late Abu Zweir.
In another attempt to file a case against the family in 2001, Elad claimed that it had purchased three plots in the property (the brothers in the United States, headed by Mahmoud Daoud Khalil), and called for other shares to be classified as the Custodian of Absentee Property.
Nihad Siam, one of the heirs, said that after several hearings in the courts, it was revealed that Elad had purchased the shares of four heirs, in addition to two shares under “Custodian of Absentee Property”. Two shares remain for the late Munira and her sister Fatima. The District Court’s decision means that the property will be divided between the heirs and settlers.
Siam added that his late mother Munira Siam and his brothers faced the Israeli courts and the bias of the settlers and settlement associations and the prosecutions and fines imposed on them, and over the past years they were prevented from carrying out any renovations in the house or their land.
Now, they will lose their home and land completely to the Elad Israeli settlement organization.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center / Silwan said that the judges refused the appeal filed by the heirs of Abu Zweir family against the decision to evict them from their property issued by the Israeli Magistrate Court at the end of 2018. video
The center added that the settlers gave the family from 8-28 July to completely vacate the property, with the possibility of eviction during that period. The property consists of a house in which Mrs. Elham Siam and her four children live, in addition to a land of about half a Dunum, and a warehouse.
Elad settlement association also demands that the family pay “rent” for the property for the past years with a value of NIS 400 thousand, in addition to lawyers’ fees of NIS 80 thousand.
The heirs of Abu Zweir family have been engaged in a struggle in the Israeli courts for 24 years to protect the property and to prove ownership of it and to refute the claims of Elad settlement association. During the past years, Elad association has worked hard to seize the property in several ways.
The first is through collusion between brokers and clients in getting the fingerprints of the late Abu Zweir on a document where she would give three of her sons the right to the property while she was dying. However, in 1999 the Israeli courts rejected Elad’s claims, stating that the property belongs to her eight children, according to the heirs of the late Abu Zweir.
In another attempt to file a case against the family in 2001, Elad claimed that it had purchased three plots in the property (the brothers in the United States, headed by Mahmoud Daoud Khalil), and called for other shares to be classified as the Custodian of Absentee Property.
Nihad Siam, one of the heirs, said that after several hearings in the courts, it was revealed that Elad had purchased the shares of four heirs, in addition to two shares under “Custodian of Absentee Property”. Two shares remain for the late Munira and her sister Fatima. The District Court’s decision means that the property will be divided between the heirs and settlers.
Siam added that his late mother Munira Siam and his brothers faced the Israeli courts and the bias of the settlers and settlement associations and the prosecutions and fines imposed on them, and over the past years they were prevented from carrying out any renovations in the house or their land.
Now, they will lose their home and land completely to the Elad Israeli settlement organization.
21 june 2019
The Israeli High Court has granted its approval for the demolition of 16 apartment buildings of 100 flats in Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood in Sur Baher village, south of occupied East Jerusalem, for “being built close to the Annexation Wall.”
The court upheld allegations by the military in which it claimed that the buildings are close to the Annexation Wall, and “pose a security threat,” due to their proximity to the illegal wall.
The Palestinians were ordered to demolish the apartments by July 18th, or face very high fines and fees, in addition to the demolition costs, should the Jerusalem City Council demolish their buildings.
Khalil Tafakji, the head of the Maps Department of the Arab Studies Society in occupied Jerusalem, said Wadi al-Hummus is in Area A of the West Bank, supposedly under the full control of the Palestinian Authority as per the Oslo Accords.
Tafakji added that when Israel started the construction of the illegal Annexation Wall in 2003, Sur Baher residents filed appeals against the planned route of the wall, as it passes right through the center of the village.
Israel then adjusted the route, keeping the entire neighborhood inside the boundaries of the wall, instead of being isolated from Jerusalem, or split in half.
He also stated that, since the neighborhood was considered to be in Area A, the Palestinians obtained construction permits from the Palestinian Ministry of Local Government.
In addition, Tafakji said that the Israeli High Court based its decision on an order, issued seven years ago by the military commander in the area, preventing the Palestinians from constructing in any area that is less than 250 meters from the Annexation Wall.
“What is happening in Sur Baher is similar to what Israel is trying to implement in the Shayyah area, in the al-Ezariyya town, and all other Palestinian communities around occupied Jerusalem,” Tafakji stated, “All these resolutions are demographic in nature, only aim at removing the Palestinians from Jerusalem.”
There are around 6000 Palestinians living in Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood, who now all face displacement, especially after the court only granted them one month to demolish their buildings.
On his part, Attorney Haitham Khatib, the head of the Legal Department of The Catholic Center for Human Rights, Sr. Yves, said the Israeli court completely adopted the allegation of the Israeli military in its ruling, which violates the basic rights of the Palestinian people.
Khatib added that this ruling is very serious, as it could also be implemented in all Palestinian areas, where the Wall was built near them, across the West Bank, and not only in Jerusalem.
He also said that, in 2011, the Military Commander in the occupied West Bank, issued an order denying the Palestinians the right to build in any area within 250 meters from the Wall, and added that, although the decision remained active, it was never implemented.
However, in the year 2018, the Israeli army decided to implement the ruling, and started by handing demolition orders targeting 16 apartment buildings in Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood.
“This is a very serious violation of the Palestinians rights; this ruling is a green light for the demolition of hundreds of homes in all Palestinian communities and neighborhoods where Israel built Annexation Wall close to them,” Khatib said.
On his part, the Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Fadi al-Hadmi, said that the Ministry’s Legal Department is following this issue, in cooperation with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, especially since these orders are serious violations not only of basic Palestinian rights, but also of International Law, International Humanitarian Law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions.
“The International Community must end is silence and uphold its responsibilities in protecting the Palestinian people from the Israeli apartheid policies,” al-Hadmi stated, “We will continue to defend our people, our existence in Jerusalem, and we will counter these racist policies and rulings.”
A report by the “Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission” has revealed that, last year, Israel demolished 471 Palestinian buildings, and issued orders for the destruction of an additional 546 structures, including 50 schools.
The report said that, although the demotions were mainly carried out in and around occupied East Jerusalem, they also included many areas in other parts of the West Bank.
The court upheld allegations by the military in which it claimed that the buildings are close to the Annexation Wall, and “pose a security threat,” due to their proximity to the illegal wall.
The Palestinians were ordered to demolish the apartments by July 18th, or face very high fines and fees, in addition to the demolition costs, should the Jerusalem City Council demolish their buildings.
Khalil Tafakji, the head of the Maps Department of the Arab Studies Society in occupied Jerusalem, said Wadi al-Hummus is in Area A of the West Bank, supposedly under the full control of the Palestinian Authority as per the Oslo Accords.
Tafakji added that when Israel started the construction of the illegal Annexation Wall in 2003, Sur Baher residents filed appeals against the planned route of the wall, as it passes right through the center of the village.
Israel then adjusted the route, keeping the entire neighborhood inside the boundaries of the wall, instead of being isolated from Jerusalem, or split in half.
He also stated that, since the neighborhood was considered to be in Area A, the Palestinians obtained construction permits from the Palestinian Ministry of Local Government.
In addition, Tafakji said that the Israeli High Court based its decision on an order, issued seven years ago by the military commander in the area, preventing the Palestinians from constructing in any area that is less than 250 meters from the Annexation Wall.
“What is happening in Sur Baher is similar to what Israel is trying to implement in the Shayyah area, in the al-Ezariyya town, and all other Palestinian communities around occupied Jerusalem,” Tafakji stated, “All these resolutions are demographic in nature, only aim at removing the Palestinians from Jerusalem.”
There are around 6000 Palestinians living in Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood, who now all face displacement, especially after the court only granted them one month to demolish their buildings.
On his part, Attorney Haitham Khatib, the head of the Legal Department of The Catholic Center for Human Rights, Sr. Yves, said the Israeli court completely adopted the allegation of the Israeli military in its ruling, which violates the basic rights of the Palestinian people.
Khatib added that this ruling is very serious, as it could also be implemented in all Palestinian areas, where the Wall was built near them, across the West Bank, and not only in Jerusalem.
He also said that, in 2011, the Military Commander in the occupied West Bank, issued an order denying the Palestinians the right to build in any area within 250 meters from the Wall, and added that, although the decision remained active, it was never implemented.
However, in the year 2018, the Israeli army decided to implement the ruling, and started by handing demolition orders targeting 16 apartment buildings in Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood.
“This is a very serious violation of the Palestinians rights; this ruling is a green light for the demolition of hundreds of homes in all Palestinian communities and neighborhoods where Israel built Annexation Wall close to them,” Khatib said.
On his part, the Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Fadi al-Hadmi, said that the Ministry’s Legal Department is following this issue, in cooperation with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, especially since these orders are serious violations not only of basic Palestinian rights, but also of International Law, International Humanitarian Law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions.
“The International Community must end is silence and uphold its responsibilities in protecting the Palestinian people from the Israeli apartheid policies,” al-Hadmi stated, “We will continue to defend our people, our existence in Jerusalem, and we will counter these racist policies and rulings.”
A report by the “Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission” has revealed that, last year, Israel demolished 471 Palestinian buildings, and issued orders for the destruction of an additional 546 structures, including 50 schools.
The report said that, although the demotions were mainly carried out in and around occupied East Jerusalem, they also included many areas in other parts of the West Bank.
17 june 2019
Dozens of Israeli police officers invaded, Sunday, Sur Baher Palestinian town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, and demanded the Palestinians to remove a tent, which was installed to protest a Supreme Court ruling to demolish 16 residential buildings of more than 100 flats.
The Israeli decision came after the City Council in the occupied city claimed that the buildings are close to the illegal Annexation Wall, which was installed on Palestinian lands.
Hamada Hamada, the head of the Services Committee of Wad al-Hummus, al-Mintar and Deir al-Amoud neighborhoods, in Sur Baher town, said the neighborhoods are in Areas A, B and C, and the lands are owned by the Palestinians, including the Local Government of the Palestinian Authority.
Hamada added that the targeted Palestinian buildings are 25 apartment buildings of around 250 flats, and said that Israel issued various demolition orders, in addition to orders halting the construction of most buildings in that area alone.
16 of the apartment buildings, which contain altogether more than 100 flats, are under the immediate threat of demolition.
He also stated that, a week ago, the Israeli Supreme Court denied the appeal, which was filed by the residents, and ordered the immediate demolition of the buildings, but without setting a date.
The Palestinians then decided to install a protest tent, and remain there, and the police has since been ordering them to remove it and leave the area.
The Israeli decision came after the City Council in the occupied city claimed that the buildings are close to the illegal Annexation Wall, which was installed on Palestinian lands.
Hamada Hamada, the head of the Services Committee of Wad al-Hummus, al-Mintar and Deir al-Amoud neighborhoods, in Sur Baher town, said the neighborhoods are in Areas A, B and C, and the lands are owned by the Palestinians, including the Local Government of the Palestinian Authority.
Hamada added that the targeted Palestinian buildings are 25 apartment buildings of around 250 flats, and said that Israel issued various demolition orders, in addition to orders halting the construction of most buildings in that area alone.
16 of the apartment buildings, which contain altogether more than 100 flats, are under the immediate threat of demolition.
He also stated that, a week ago, the Israeli Supreme Court denied the appeal, which was filed by the residents, and ordered the immediate demolition of the buildings, but without setting a date.
The Palestinians then decided to install a protest tent, and remain there, and the police has since been ordering them to remove it and leave the area.
