21 feb 2014
Israeli police on Friday afternoon detained six Palestinians from Jerusalem as they exited al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem, following protests in the compound against an Israeli politician's visit.
The Director of the Prisoners' Society in Hebron Nasser Qaws said that Israeli forces detained Ahmad Badreya, Salah Sharifah, Ahmad al-Razim, and three others who had yet to be identified.
During the clashes, witnesses said that youths destroyed the camera of the Israeli police station located in the al-Aqsa compound, and threw stones at Israeli forces near the Moroccan gate in protest against visit of Israeli MK Moshe Feiglin to the holy compound.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the youths were "involved in disturbances" and "threw stones at police officers" following Friday prayers.
Because of the sensitive nature of the Al-Aqsa compound, Israel maintains a compromise with the Islamic trust that controls it to not allow non-Muslim prayers in the area. Israeli forces regularly escort Jewish visitors to the site, leading to tension with Palestinian worshipers.
The compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque and is the third holiest site in Islam.
It is also venerated as Judaism's most holy place as it sits above the site where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.
Al-Aqsa is located in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian territories that have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
The Director of the Prisoners' Society in Hebron Nasser Qaws said that Israeli forces detained Ahmad Badreya, Salah Sharifah, Ahmad al-Razim, and three others who had yet to be identified.
During the clashes, witnesses said that youths destroyed the camera of the Israeli police station located in the al-Aqsa compound, and threw stones at Israeli forces near the Moroccan gate in protest against visit of Israeli MK Moshe Feiglin to the holy compound.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the youths were "involved in disturbances" and "threw stones at police officers" following Friday prayers.
Because of the sensitive nature of the Al-Aqsa compound, Israel maintains a compromise with the Islamic trust that controls it to not allow non-Muslim prayers in the area. Israeli forces regularly escort Jewish visitors to the site, leading to tension with Palestinian worshipers.
The compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque and is the third holiest site in Islam.
It is also venerated as Judaism's most holy place as it sits above the site where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.
Al-Aqsa is located in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian territories that have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded the Deheishe refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, clashing with dozens of local youth and causing several injuries.
Local sources said that the army invaded the camp to deliver notices to two of the youths, ordering them to head to a nearby military base for interrogation.
The invasion led to clashes with local youth who threw stones and empty bottles at them, while the soldiers fired gas bombs, concussion grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and several rounds of live ammunition.
Medical sources said several residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, and received treatment by local medics.
The soldiers served Younis az-Zaghary and Ayman Mheisin with military warrants ordering them to head to the Etzion security and military base, to the south of Bethlehem, for interrogation.
In related news, soldiers invaded the Fahma village and Ya’bad town, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, broke into and violently searched several homes.
Local sources said that the soldiers took pictures of the exterior and interior of the invaded homes in Fahma village, and withdrew later on.
The soldiers also invaded Ya’bad town, firing concussion grenades and installing a military roadblock at its main entrance.
Local sources said that the army invaded the camp to deliver notices to two of the youths, ordering them to head to a nearby military base for interrogation.
The invasion led to clashes with local youth who threw stones and empty bottles at them, while the soldiers fired gas bombs, concussion grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and several rounds of live ammunition.
Medical sources said several residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, and received treatment by local medics.
The soldiers served Younis az-Zaghary and Ayman Mheisin with military warrants ordering them to head to the Etzion security and military base, to the south of Bethlehem, for interrogation.
In related news, soldiers invaded the Fahma village and Ya’bad town, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, broke into and violently searched several homes.
Local sources said that the soldiers took pictures of the exterior and interior of the invaded homes in Fahma village, and withdrew later on.
The soldiers also invaded Ya’bad town, firing concussion grenades and installing a military roadblock at its main entrance.
The permanent delegates at the Arab League, in an extraordinary session held on Wednesday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Cairo, decided to entrust the General Secretariat to open a special account called "the Arab fund for the support of Palestinian and Arab prisoners". The Council also decided to form a special Council for the fund composed of representatives from the Permanent Mission of Palestine and the Permanent Representation of Iraq, Gaza, Palestine and the occupied territories and representatives from the financial and administrative sector of the General Secretariat.
The Council will receive and approve applications from the PA Ministry of Prisoners for the rehabilitation of the released prisoners. The account will be funded from the voluntary donations of Arab and Islamic states, institutions and individuals and the international contributions.
The Council stressed after the meeting that the issue of Palestinian and Arab prisoners should be an essential part in any just political solution in the region, and that any agreement or compromise to achieve peace will be completed only after the release of captives.
The Council will receive and approve applications from the PA Ministry of Prisoners for the rehabilitation of the released prisoners. The account will be funded from the voluntary donations of Arab and Islamic states, institutions and individuals and the international contributions.
The Council stressed after the meeting that the issue of Palestinian and Arab prisoners should be an essential part in any just political solution in the region, and that any agreement or compromise to achieve peace will be completed only after the release of captives.
Palestinian human rights sources revealed the details and reasons for the arrest of Palestinian human rights advocate Adnan Hamarsheh and his wife, by the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA). Tadhamun Foundation for Human Rights said in a statement on Wednesday that a representative of the foundation managed on Tuesday to visit Hamarsheh in the Israeli Pelinson hospital and his wife in the Jalama interrogation center.
Researcher at the foundation Ahmed Betawi explained that the IOA arrested on Sunday afternoon Hamarsheh's wife at Karama crossing, when she was returning from Jordan.
The statement quoted Ms. Hamarsheh as saying that her husband Adnan called her when she was visiting Amman, and asked her to buy chocolate and coffee on her way back.
This, however, was reason enough for the Israeli authorities, who were phone-taping the conversation, to arrest both of them, claiming that the words "chocolate" and "coffee" were coded messages with security nature.
Hamarsheh told lawyer at Tadhamun foundation that he went to Karameh crossing on the border with Jordan last Sunday to receive his wife, but he was notified that she had been detained by Israeli soldiers.
Hamarsheh himself was arrested on his way home by Israeli forces after they confiscated his car.
He said: "During my arrest I told the soldiers about my health condition, as I am still suffering due a stroke I had suffered from 6 months ago. I told them that I cannot walk on my own, but the soldiers did not care. They blindfolded me and put me in an air conditioned room for an hour, and then they pulled me out of the room to the open air, where the weather was very cold. That caused me a severe headache and pain in my limbs."
After seeing my health condition, activist Adnan said, the soldiers took me to the Pelinson hospital, where I underwent some medical tests.
Researcher at the foundation Ahmed Betawi explained that the IOA arrested on Sunday afternoon Hamarsheh's wife at Karama crossing, when she was returning from Jordan.
The statement quoted Ms. Hamarsheh as saying that her husband Adnan called her when she was visiting Amman, and asked her to buy chocolate and coffee on her way back.
This, however, was reason enough for the Israeli authorities, who were phone-taping the conversation, to arrest both of them, claiming that the words "chocolate" and "coffee" were coded messages with security nature.
Hamarsheh told lawyer at Tadhamun foundation that he went to Karameh crossing on the border with Jordan last Sunday to receive his wife, but he was notified that she had been detained by Israeli soldiers.
Hamarsheh himself was arrested on his way home by Israeli forces after they confiscated his car.
He said: "During my arrest I told the soldiers about my health condition, as I am still suffering due a stroke I had suffered from 6 months ago. I told them that I cannot walk on my own, but the soldiers did not care. They blindfolded me and put me in an air conditioned room for an hour, and then they pulled me out of the room to the open air, where the weather was very cold. That caused me a severe headache and pain in my limbs."
After seeing my health condition, activist Adnan said, the soldiers took me to the Pelinson hospital, where I underwent some medical tests.
The Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association (Ad-Dameer) has reported that one of its lawyers visited, on Thursday - February 20, 2014, hunger-striking detainee Abdul-Majid Khudirat at the Ramla prison clinic, and said the detainee stopped his strike after reaching a deal with the military persecutor’s office.
Khudirat, 46 years of age, stopped his strike on Tuesday evening, February 18th, after reaching a deal to be sentenced to 30 months, on the condition to have a special committee hearing to reduce his sentence to 18 months.
After signing the deal, Khudirat was moved from the section where hunger-striking detainees are held, to another section for ailing detainees at the prison hospital.
The detainee started his hunger strike on January 15, 2014, protesting his arrest as Israel wanted to reinstate his original sentence.
He was one of hundreds detainees released under the Shalit Prisoner Swap deal; he spent 3.5 years of his 18-year term.
It is worth mentioning that the detainee held an open-ended hunger strike starting on July 1 2013, and ended his strike on October 15 same year after the Prison Administration reached an agreement to sentence him to 30 months in exchange for ending his strike.
However, the Prison Administration unilaterally voided the agreement, and he resumed his hunger strike starting on January 15, 2014.
Khudirat was repeatedly kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel including when he was kidnapped on June 13 2002, and was released on December 18 2011.
He was kidnapped again on August 23 2013, and started his strike on January 15 2014 when Israel reinstated the eight remaining years of his original sentence.
Nearly a month ago, Israel “offered” to release him under the condition to be sent to the Gaza Strip instead of being sent home in the West Bank, but he rejected the offer and was forced into solitary confinement at the Majeddo Israeli prison.
He suffers from carious health issues, including a kidney disease, sharp back and abdominal pain. Khudirat was repeatedly kidnapped, and imprisoned, by the army.
Khudirat, 46 years of age, stopped his strike on Tuesday evening, February 18th, after reaching a deal to be sentenced to 30 months, on the condition to have a special committee hearing to reduce his sentence to 18 months.
After signing the deal, Khudirat was moved from the section where hunger-striking detainees are held, to another section for ailing detainees at the prison hospital.
The detainee started his hunger strike on January 15, 2014, protesting his arrest as Israel wanted to reinstate his original sentence.
He was one of hundreds detainees released under the Shalit Prisoner Swap deal; he spent 3.5 years of his 18-year term.
It is worth mentioning that the detainee held an open-ended hunger strike starting on July 1 2013, and ended his strike on October 15 same year after the Prison Administration reached an agreement to sentence him to 30 months in exchange for ending his strike.
However, the Prison Administration unilaterally voided the agreement, and he resumed his hunger strike starting on January 15, 2014.
Khudirat was repeatedly kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel including when he was kidnapped on June 13 2002, and was released on December 18 2011.
He was kidnapped again on August 23 2013, and started his strike on January 15 2014 when Israel reinstated the eight remaining years of his original sentence.
Nearly a month ago, Israel “offered” to release him under the condition to be sent to the Gaza Strip instead of being sent home in the West Bank, but he rejected the offer and was forced into solitary confinement at the Majeddo Israeli prison.
He suffers from carious health issues, including a kidney disease, sharp back and abdominal pain. Khudirat was repeatedly kidnapped, and imprisoned, by the army.
The International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights (ISFHR) has reported that a Palestinian detainee, from the northern West Bank district of Nablus, fainted before his military court hearing, on Thursday at noon, February 20, 2014.
Lawyer Mazen Abu ‘Oun stated that detainee, Shadi Mohammad Awwad, 30, lost consciousness while in a detention room at the court, awaiting his court session, and was moved to the Affoula Israeli Hospital, the Palestine News Network (PNN) has reported.
Awwad, from Awarta village near Nablus, was placed in an overcrowded room, where some detainees are even held for up to ten hours, without water or food, before their court sessions are held.
Military court sessions usually last for a few minutes, but the detainees have to endure being moved from prison so early at dawn or late at night, and are kept in small, overcrowded rooms.
Abu ‘Oun said that Awwad was kidnapped by the army on Monday at dawn, February 17, and was supposed to be arraigned Thursday.
After the detainee fainted, and was moved to a hospital, the judge decided to keep him remanded for additional four days before a second hearing is held.
Lawyer Mazen Abu ‘Oun stated that detainee, Shadi Mohammad Awwad, 30, lost consciousness while in a detention room at the court, awaiting his court session, and was moved to the Affoula Israeli Hospital, the Palestine News Network (PNN) has reported.
Awwad, from Awarta village near Nablus, was placed in an overcrowded room, where some detainees are even held for up to ten hours, without water or food, before their court sessions are held.
Military court sessions usually last for a few minutes, but the detainees have to endure being moved from prison so early at dawn or late at night, and are kept in small, overcrowded rooms.
Abu ‘Oun said that Awwad was kidnapped by the army on Monday at dawn, February 17, and was supposed to be arraigned Thursday.
After the detainee fainted, and was moved to a hospital, the judge decided to keep him remanded for additional four days before a second hearing is held.
20 feb 2014
In 1991, Fares was 24 years when Israeli forces imprisoned him. 12 years ago was the last time his mother was given the permission to see her only son. Since then, Fares’s sick mother has been crying to such an extent that she lost her sight . Now, her single desire is to hug her imprisoned son before she dies.
When we visited Fares’s mother, she was in a very poor health and was barely able to talk to us. She was praying for her son in the Israeli prison to stay as strong as he has always been. Fares was supposed to be freed in the last prisoner release last year .
His mum even prepared a bedroom for him and wrote notes on the walls to welcome her hero. But until now all she got has been empty promises.
Human rights organizations have also called on the Red Cross to further push Israel to live up to its commitments to the schedules of family visits and respect the prisoners’ rights.
The agony of the Palestinian prisoners' mothers is not only limited to Feras's mother who lost her sight before having one more chance to see her son.
When we visited Fares’s mother, she was in a very poor health and was barely able to talk to us. She was praying for her son in the Israeli prison to stay as strong as he has always been. Fares was supposed to be freed in the last prisoner release last year .
His mum even prepared a bedroom for him and wrote notes on the walls to welcome her hero. But until now all she got has been empty promises.
Human rights organizations have also called on the Red Cross to further push Israel to live up to its commitments to the schedules of family visits and respect the prisoners’ rights.
The agony of the Palestinian prisoners' mothers is not only limited to Feras's mother who lost her sight before having one more chance to see her son.
The number of Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli jails recently passed 200, a human rights organization said Tuesday.
Usama Maqbol, a lawyer from the Palestinian human rights group Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights, said that the rise in the number of administrative detainees is the result of an ongoing campaign of daily arrests by Israeli forces.
He said that this campaign is targeting recently freed prisoners and leaders of Palestinian political groups, highlighting that 90 percent of administrative detainees are from those two categories, he added.
Israeli human rights groups B'tselem reported in October that 140 Palestinians were being kept in administrative detention in Israeli prisons, down from a high of nearly 1,000 in 2002. The new numbers, however, suggest a renewed push on the part of Israeli occupation authorities.
Maqbol explained that the orders for administrative detention come from the regional military commanders of each region according to undisclosed information, and that the orders do not rely on evidence or confessions.
The information is even kept secret from defense lawyers, he added.
Administrative detention refers to the tactic of keeping a prisoner without charge or trial for extended periods of time, often due to "security" concerns.
Israel routinely uses this tactic on detained Palestinians, even though international law stipulates it only be used in exceptional circumstances.
Usama Maqbol, a lawyer from the Palestinian human rights group Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights, said that the rise in the number of administrative detainees is the result of an ongoing campaign of daily arrests by Israeli forces.
He said that this campaign is targeting recently freed prisoners and leaders of Palestinian political groups, highlighting that 90 percent of administrative detainees are from those two categories, he added.
Israeli human rights groups B'tselem reported in October that 140 Palestinians were being kept in administrative detention in Israeli prisons, down from a high of nearly 1,000 in 2002. The new numbers, however, suggest a renewed push on the part of Israeli occupation authorities.
Maqbol explained that the orders for administrative detention come from the regional military commanders of each region according to undisclosed information, and that the orders do not rely on evidence or confessions.
The information is even kept secret from defense lawyers, he added.
Administrative detention refers to the tactic of keeping a prisoner without charge or trial for extended periods of time, often due to "security" concerns.
Israel routinely uses this tactic on detained Palestinians, even though international law stipulates it only be used in exceptional circumstances.
Israeli police, on Thursday, arrested an engineer and three of his staff for fixing a run-down water pipe inside al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in the Old City of Jerusalem, according to an employee of the Muslim Waqf department that runs the Mosque.
The police saw the workers fixing the water pipe and ordered them to stop under the pretext that they did not obtain permission from the police to do the work. But, when they refused, police arrested them, according to WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency.
Engineer Bassam Hallaq, in charge of restoration and renovation of al-Aqsa Mosque, refused to abide by the police order saying that they do not have the right to interfere in that work and instructed the workers to continue with the restoration of the water pipe, said the source.
As a result, police arrested Hallaq along with Raed Zughayar, Husam Seder and Ali Bkeirat.
Israel is trying to prevent the Muslim Waqf from doing any restoration inside the Mosque compound, claiming that any work should be cleared with the relevant Israeli authorities first.
The Waqf refuses to coordinate its work in the Mosque area with the Israelis, and says Israel has no right to interfere in Muslim affairs or property.
Israeli police detain members of al-Aqsa development committee
Israeli police detained seven employees who work for a construction and development committee of the al-Aqsa Mosque complex Thursday, a Ma'an reporter said.
The reporter highlighted that the six were detained while they were doing maintenance work.
The committee’s chief engineer Bassam al-Hallaq was among the detainees as well as engineer Taha Uweidah. Members of the committee Raed Zghayyar, Husam Sidir, Ali Bkeirat and Mahmoud al-Anati were also detained.
Separately, more than 70 Israeli rightists entered the complex though the Moroccan Gate escorted by Israeli police officers.
The police saw the workers fixing the water pipe and ordered them to stop under the pretext that they did not obtain permission from the police to do the work. But, when they refused, police arrested them, according to WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency.
Engineer Bassam Hallaq, in charge of restoration and renovation of al-Aqsa Mosque, refused to abide by the police order saying that they do not have the right to interfere in that work and instructed the workers to continue with the restoration of the water pipe, said the source.
As a result, police arrested Hallaq along with Raed Zughayar, Husam Seder and Ali Bkeirat.
Israel is trying to prevent the Muslim Waqf from doing any restoration inside the Mosque compound, claiming that any work should be cleared with the relevant Israeli authorities first.
The Waqf refuses to coordinate its work in the Mosque area with the Israelis, and says Israel has no right to interfere in Muslim affairs or property.
Israeli police detain members of al-Aqsa development committee
Israeli police detained seven employees who work for a construction and development committee of the al-Aqsa Mosque complex Thursday, a Ma'an reporter said.
The reporter highlighted that the six were detained while they were doing maintenance work.
The committee’s chief engineer Bassam al-Hallaq was among the detainees as well as engineer Taha Uweidah. Members of the committee Raed Zghayyar, Husam Sidir, Ali Bkeirat and Mahmoud al-Anati were also detained.
Separately, more than 70 Israeli rightists entered the complex though the Moroccan Gate escorted by Israeli police officers.
Four Palestinian hunger strikers' health conditions have seriously deteriorated, the Palestinain Information Center (PIC) has reported. The four hunger strikers were transferred from Ramla prison infirmary to Israeli hospitals.
(PNN) According to PIC, the hunger strikers Akram Fessissi and Muammar Banat were transferred to Kaplan hospital, while Wahid Abu Maria was moved to Wollaston hospital. Amir Shamas was also transferred to Tel Hashomer hospital.
The four hunger strikers have been on hunger strike for 38 days in a row, to protest their administrative detention.
In related news, Al Ray reports that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has transferred Palestinian MP Yasser Mansour to al-Ramla Prison clinic, following a deterioration in his health.
Parliament, Reform and Change Bloc puts full responsibility on the Israeli occupation should something happen to Mansour’s life.
The bloc appealed to the international bodies, Arab and Islamic parliaments and human rights organizations to stress on Israel to release Mansour.
The Israeli court renewed Mansour’s administrative detention three times, it added.
Mansour launched a hunger strike for days and stopped it after he received promises from the IPS to end his solitary confinement.
Mansour, arrested in 23 November 2012, suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.
(PNN) According to PIC, the hunger strikers Akram Fessissi and Muammar Banat were transferred to Kaplan hospital, while Wahid Abu Maria was moved to Wollaston hospital. Amir Shamas was also transferred to Tel Hashomer hospital.
The four hunger strikers have been on hunger strike for 38 days in a row, to protest their administrative detention.
In related news, Al Ray reports that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has transferred Palestinian MP Yasser Mansour to al-Ramla Prison clinic, following a deterioration in his health.
Parliament, Reform and Change Bloc puts full responsibility on the Israeli occupation should something happen to Mansour’s life.
The bloc appealed to the international bodies, Arab and Islamic parliaments and human rights organizations to stress on Israel to release Mansour.
The Israeli court renewed Mansour’s administrative detention three times, it added.
Mansour launched a hunger strike for days and stopped it after he received promises from the IPS to end his solitary confinement.
Mansour, arrested in 23 November 2012, suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.
Israeli Prison Service(IPS) transferred Palestinian MP Yasser Mansour to al-Ramla Prison clinic after his health deteriorated. Parliament, Reform and Change Bloc puts full responsibility the Israeli occupation if something happened to Mansour’s life.
The bloc appealed to the international bodies, Arab and Islamic parliaments and human rights organizations to stress on Israel to release Mansour.
The Israeli court renewed Mansour’s administrative detention three times, it added.
Mansour launched hunger strike for days and stopped it after he received promises from the IPS to end his solitary confinement.
Mansour, arrested in 23 November 2012, suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.
The bloc appealed to the international bodies, Arab and Islamic parliaments and human rights organizations to stress on Israel to release Mansour.
The Israeli court renewed Mansour’s administrative detention three times, it added.
Mansour launched hunger strike for days and stopped it after he received promises from the IPS to end his solitary confinement.
Mansour, arrested in 23 November 2012, suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.
Israeli forces detained nine Palestinians in overnight arrest raids across the West Bank, locals said.
Israeli forces raided Qalqiliya and detained seven people in the village of Kafr Qaddum, local committee spokesman Murad Shteiwi said.
Soldiers ransacked several homes and fired gunshots in the air.
Ayman Shteiwi, 35, Bahha Majid Shteiwi, 15, Muatasim Abdul-Mannan Jumaa, Muin Barham, and Firas and Faris Nidal were identified as those arrested.
Murad Shteiwi was also briefly detained before being released.
In Jenin, Abdul-Salam Abdullah Yahya, 22, was detained at a checkpoint near the village of Turra while Asaad Issam Musab, 20, was arrested in Yabad village.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said three Palestinians were detained in the Hebron district.
Israeli forces raided Qalqiliya and detained seven people in the village of Kafr Qaddum, local committee spokesman Murad Shteiwi said.
Soldiers ransacked several homes and fired gunshots in the air.
Ayman Shteiwi, 35, Bahha Majid Shteiwi, 15, Muatasim Abdul-Mannan Jumaa, Muin Barham, and Firas and Faris Nidal were identified as those arrested.
Murad Shteiwi was also briefly detained before being released.
In Jenin, Abdul-Salam Abdullah Yahya, 22, was detained at a checkpoint near the village of Turra while Asaad Issam Musab, 20, was arrested in Yabad village.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said three Palestinians were detained in the Hebron district.
Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Thursday at dawn, seven Palestinians in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, three in the southern part, and also kidnapped on Wednesday at night two Palestinians near Jenin.
The Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that several armored military jeeps invaded the southern west of Hebron city, and kidnaped Abdullah Na’im Ezghayyar, 19, from his home in Farsh al-Hawa neighborhood.
Soldiers also invaded Doura nearby town, and kidnapped Mohammad Walid Amro, 17, while resident Ibrahim Qandil Masalma, 24, was kidnapped in Beit Awwa town.
The soldiers broke into and violently searched several homes, causing excessive property damage, WAFA said, and added that the army also invaded Bani Neim town, east of Hebron.
In addition, soldiers invaded Kufur Qaddoum village, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, broke into and violently searched several homes, and kidnapped seven Palestinians.
The kidnapped Palestinians have been identified as Morad Eshteiwy, Baha’ Majed, Mo’in Barham, Firas Aqel, Ayman Abdul-Karim Eshteiwy, Fares Nidal Aqel and Mo’tasem Abdul-Mannan Jom’a.
According to the Facebook page of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Kufur Qaddoum, the army released Morad Eshteiwy, Baha Majed, Mo’in Barham, and Firas Aqel; the rest were taken to an unknown destination.
On Wednesday evening, soldiers kidnapped Abdul-Salaam Abdullah Yahia, 25, from the al-‘Arqa village west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, after stopping him at a roadblock near Toura nearby village.
Soldiers also invaded Ya’bad town, southwest of Jenin, broke into a house and violently searched it, and kidnapped As’ad Issam Amra, 20.
The Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that several armored military jeeps invaded the southern west of Hebron city, and kidnaped Abdullah Na’im Ezghayyar, 19, from his home in Farsh al-Hawa neighborhood.
Soldiers also invaded Doura nearby town, and kidnapped Mohammad Walid Amro, 17, while resident Ibrahim Qandil Masalma, 24, was kidnapped in Beit Awwa town.
The soldiers broke into and violently searched several homes, causing excessive property damage, WAFA said, and added that the army also invaded Bani Neim town, east of Hebron.
In addition, soldiers invaded Kufur Qaddoum village, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, broke into and violently searched several homes, and kidnapped seven Palestinians.
The kidnapped Palestinians have been identified as Morad Eshteiwy, Baha’ Majed, Mo’in Barham, Firas Aqel, Ayman Abdul-Karim Eshteiwy, Fares Nidal Aqel and Mo’tasem Abdul-Mannan Jom’a.
According to the Facebook page of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Kufur Qaddoum, the army released Morad Eshteiwy, Baha Majed, Mo’in Barham, and Firas Aqel; the rest were taken to an unknown destination.
On Wednesday evening, soldiers kidnapped Abdul-Salaam Abdullah Yahia, 25, from the al-‘Arqa village west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, after stopping him at a roadblock near Toura nearby village.
Soldiers also invaded Ya’bad town, southwest of Jenin, broke into a house and violently searched it, and kidnapped As’ad Issam Amra, 20.
19 feb 2014
The District court sentenced on Wednesday the 21-year old Jerusalemite prisoner Ma’moon Ali Ahmad Farhan for five years of actual imprisonment.
Amjad Abu Asab, head of Jerusalemite detainees and prisoners families committee, said that the District court sentenced Ma’moon for five years after he was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the occupation soldiers who broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque on 08/03/2013 which led to burning some of them; note that he was arrested on the same day at the crossing of Shu’fat Refugee camp.
Ma’moon was transferred in between several prisons and is now in Nafha prison with his older brother Mohammad who waiting for his trial in the next few days on the same charges.
Amjad Abu Asab, head of Jerusalemite detainees and prisoners families committee, said that the District court sentenced Ma’moon for five years after he was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the occupation soldiers who broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque on 08/03/2013 which led to burning some of them; note that he was arrested on the same day at the crossing of Shu’fat Refugee camp.
Ma’moon was transferred in between several prisons and is now in Nafha prison with his older brother Mohammad who waiting for his trial in the next few days on the same charges.
Israeli forces on Tuesday released a Palestinian prisoner after 27 months of detention. Mohammed Azizi was forced to pay NIS 3,000 before release.
He was arrested in 2011 when the Israeli occupation soldiers raided his home in the West Bank City of Nablus.
Azizi participated in the massive hunger strike organized by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons in 2012.
He was arrested in 2011 when the Israeli occupation soldiers raided his home in the West Bank City of Nablus.
Azizi participated in the massive hunger strike organized by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons in 2012.
Signifinant increase in Israeli violations during January
Israeli Knesset passed, on Wednesday, in its first reading, a bill to deprive Palestinian prisoners from 1948 territories of national insurance benefits, upon their release from Israeli jails, amidst increased violations in the month of January.
“We can’t imagine the Israeli government to release those prisoners and allocate cash allowances for them; this farce must end," the Likud member and bill drafter told Israel Seventh Channel.
This bill comes ahead of an Israeli cabinet vote on the release of the fourth batch of prisoners, which Israel agreed to free in a goodwill gesture, due in late March, according to Al Ray.
Arab MK and Meretz party member Freij Issawi said that the Knesset has long been mulling over how to tighten the grip over Arab citizens of Israel, as the Jewish members always compete to propose bills to detract from their rights.
In related politics, a government report marked a significant increase in the Israeli occupation’s violations during January, with eight Palestinians killed and dozens injured.
The report, released by Ministry of Planning in Gaza, explained that six citizens died and 41 sustained injuries in separate shootings and bombings incidents, during January, while two Palestinians passed and dozens were injured in tear gas attacks.
Those detained during the month numbered 400; two of them were from the Gaza Strip, it added.
The Israeli occupation’s gunboats monitoring the Gaza fishing zone carried out 14 attacks on Palestinian fishermen across the sea.
Wednesday, at dawn, Israeli gunboats opened fire towards Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza coast.
The gunboats fired the beach in Gaza city with a shell; no injuries or damage were reported.
Israel has controlled Gaza waters since the 1967 occupation, and has kept several warships stationed off the coast since 2008.
Regarding the violations committed against journalists during their coverage of West Bank protests, the report stated that two journalists were detained, increasing the number of journalists held in the occupation prisons to 14.
Israeli Knesset passed, on Wednesday, in its first reading, a bill to deprive Palestinian prisoners from 1948 territories of national insurance benefits, upon their release from Israeli jails, amidst increased violations in the month of January.
“We can’t imagine the Israeli government to release those prisoners and allocate cash allowances for them; this farce must end," the Likud member and bill drafter told Israel Seventh Channel.
This bill comes ahead of an Israeli cabinet vote on the release of the fourth batch of prisoners, which Israel agreed to free in a goodwill gesture, due in late March, according to Al Ray.
Arab MK and Meretz party member Freij Issawi said that the Knesset has long been mulling over how to tighten the grip over Arab citizens of Israel, as the Jewish members always compete to propose bills to detract from their rights.
In related politics, a government report marked a significant increase in the Israeli occupation’s violations during January, with eight Palestinians killed and dozens injured.
The report, released by Ministry of Planning in Gaza, explained that six citizens died and 41 sustained injuries in separate shootings and bombings incidents, during January, while two Palestinians passed and dozens were injured in tear gas attacks.
Those detained during the month numbered 400; two of them were from the Gaza Strip, it added.
The Israeli occupation’s gunboats monitoring the Gaza fishing zone carried out 14 attacks on Palestinian fishermen across the sea.
Wednesday, at dawn, Israeli gunboats opened fire towards Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza coast.
The gunboats fired the beach in Gaza city with a shell; no injuries or damage were reported.
Israel has controlled Gaza waters since the 1967 occupation, and has kept several warships stationed off the coast since 2008.
Regarding the violations committed against journalists during their coverage of West Bank protests, the report stated that two journalists were detained, increasing the number of journalists held in the occupation prisons to 14.
The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) renewed the administrative detention of Palestinian lawmaker Nizar Ramadan. According to his family, the Israeli court extended for six months the administrative detention of the MP, who is currently held in the Israeli Ofer prison, north of Ramallah.
The IOF arrested Ramadan in October 28, 2013, and transferred him to the administrative detention for four months.
The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc condemned the extension of the detention of MP Ramadan and the policy adopted by the occupation against the Palestinian deputies, and asserted that this policy will never break their will.
It also called on all human rights bodies to immediately intervene to stop this policy and release all the detained MPs.
The IOF arrested Ramadan in October 28, 2013, and transferred him to the administrative detention for four months.
The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc condemned the extension of the detention of MP Ramadan and the policy adopted by the occupation against the Palestinian deputies, and asserted that this policy will never break their will.
It also called on all human rights bodies to immediately intervene to stop this policy and release all the detained MPs.
Israeli member of the Knesset Moshe Feiglin desecrated the Aqsa Mosque compound early Wednesday, and toured its courtyards for half an hour. The director general of the Islamic endowments in Jerusalem Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib said Feiglin toured the eastern area of the mosque and stood at the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock.
A cameraman followed the MK during the tour, al-Khatib said.
Feiglin said during his tour "al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock belong to the Jews. The Arabs should leave to Saudi Arabia."
Sheikh al-Khatib denounced Feiglin's provocative actions, which came after he failed to hold a Knesset session on Aqsa oversight, adding that he asked the occupation police chief in the Old City to get him out of the Mosque.
Feiglin had initiated a Knesset debate, calling for imposing full Israeli sovereignty over al-Aqsa compound, and ending Jordanian oversight over it. However, Israeli media reported that the debate would be postponed due to local, international and Jordanian pressures.
Meanwhile, groups of Jewish settlers, led by Rabbi Yehuda Glick, continued on Wednesday their incursions on al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, under the protection of the Israeli police.
PIC's correspondent pointed out that the Israeli police stationed at the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque have continued to impose restrictions on the entry of worshipers to the mosque.
The Israeli police on Wednesday arrested two students from the area of Bab al-Asbat, and took them to an interrogation center in Bab al-Khalil in the Old City of Jerusalem.
A cameraman followed the MK during the tour, al-Khatib said.
Feiglin said during his tour "al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock belong to the Jews. The Arabs should leave to Saudi Arabia."
Sheikh al-Khatib denounced Feiglin's provocative actions, which came after he failed to hold a Knesset session on Aqsa oversight, adding that he asked the occupation police chief in the Old City to get him out of the Mosque.
Feiglin had initiated a Knesset debate, calling for imposing full Israeli sovereignty over al-Aqsa compound, and ending Jordanian oversight over it. However, Israeli media reported that the debate would be postponed due to local, international and Jordanian pressures.
Meanwhile, groups of Jewish settlers, led by Rabbi Yehuda Glick, continued on Wednesday their incursions on al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, under the protection of the Israeli police.
PIC's correspondent pointed out that the Israeli police stationed at the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque have continued to impose restrictions on the entry of worshipers to the mosque.
The Israeli police on Wednesday arrested two students from the area of Bab al-Asbat, and took them to an interrogation center in Bab al-Khalil in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday evening arrested a Palestinian citizen in the city of al-Khalil, in the north of the West Bank, while clashes erupted near Bab al-Zawia in the city center. Local sources said that the IOF raided the Abu Sneineh neighborhood and searched the houses, while the soldiers attacked the citizen Mohammed Abu Sabih before arresting him and taking him to an unknown destination.
In Bab al-Zawia, violent clashes broke out between dozens of youths and Israeli soldiers, who fired stun and tear gas grenades towards the citizens and vehicles, forcing a number of shopkeepers to close their shops.
In Bab al-Zawia, violent clashes broke out between dozens of youths and Israeli soldiers, who fired stun and tear gas grenades towards the citizens and vehicles, forcing a number of shopkeepers to close their shops.
Palestinian medical sources reported, on Wednesday, February 19, 2014, that a Palestinian child was injured after being rammed by an Israeli settler’s vehicle, near the Ibrahimi Mosque, in Hebron city, in the southern part of the West Bank.
The sources said the child, Ahmad Naim Borqan, 7 years of age, was struck by the settler’s car in al-Masharfa neighborhood, south of the mosque.
He was moved to the Hebron Governmental Hospital suffering a mild-to-moderate injury. The settler fled the scene.
There have been numerous similar incidents, in Hebron as well as several parts of the occupied West Bank, causing dozens of injuries and several deaths, among the Palestinians, including children and elderly.
Also in Hebron, soldiers invaded the town of Yatta, kidnapped one resident identified as Baha’ Abu Sabha, 20, and took him to an unknown destination.
Also on Wednesday, settlers attacked a Palestinian man in Burin village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, causing various cuts and bruises.
Local sources said the settlers assaulted Mohammad Raja al-Zeben, 50, while working in his land close to the Yitzhar illegal settlement.
The sources said the child, Ahmad Naim Borqan, 7 years of age, was struck by the settler’s car in al-Masharfa neighborhood, south of the mosque.
He was moved to the Hebron Governmental Hospital suffering a mild-to-moderate injury. The settler fled the scene.
There have been numerous similar incidents, in Hebron as well as several parts of the occupied West Bank, causing dozens of injuries and several deaths, among the Palestinians, including children and elderly.
Also in Hebron, soldiers invaded the town of Yatta, kidnapped one resident identified as Baha’ Abu Sabha, 20, and took him to an unknown destination.
Also on Wednesday, settlers attacked a Palestinian man in Burin village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, causing various cuts and bruises.
Local sources said the settlers assaulted Mohammad Raja al-Zeben, 50, while working in his land close to the Yitzhar illegal settlement.
Threatening and Torturing Palestinian Patients to Become Spies For Israel
By Jonathan Cook
Fadi al-Qatshan is one of the latest casualties of a war taking place in Gaza’s shadows, as Israel seeks ever more desperate ways to recruit collaborators while Hamas, the Islamic movement ruling Gaza, enforces tough counter-measures.
The 26-year-old graduate died in November. He was killed not by a bullet or in a missile strike, but when a simple piece of medical hardware – an implant in his heart – failed. His repeated requests to the Israeli authorities over more than a year to be allowed out of Gaza for medical treatment had gone unheeded.
According to his family, Israeli security services knew his life was in danger but denied him a permit to attend a medical appointment at a hospital in East Jerusalem. Gaza’s own hospitals, in crisis after years of Israel’s blockade, warned him they could no longer help.
Following a request for a travel permit, his family says al-Qatshan received a call from someone identifying himself as from the Shin Bet, Israel’s intelligence service. Speaking in Arabic, the man said he knew the device in his heart “might explode any minute”. He was urged to “cooperate” in return for a permit.
Al-Qatshan was told he could call the mobile phone number on his screen and arrange an appointment at Erez, the Israeli-controlled crossing that is the only way for ordinary Palestinians to exit Gaza. The agent reportedly rang off with the words, “See you in Tel Aviv”, Israel’s large coastal city. Al-Qatshan sealed his fate by deleting the number.
‘Terrible choices’
Issam Yunis, director of Al-Mezan human rights organisation in Gaza City, says his group regularly records cases of Palestinians in desperate need of medical treatment being approached to collaborate. “The choice for these patients is really a terrible one. It is to cooperate with Israel or die in Gaza.”
Although Israel is suspected of recruiting tens of thousands of Palestinians as collaborators since its creation in 1948, the practice has rarely attracted more than superficial attention. Palestinians are ashamed that cooperation with the Israeli security services is widespread, while Israel is loath to draw attention to the systematic violations of international law at the root of its system of rule in the occupied territories.
But the issue of collaboration is finally emerging from the shadows, assisted in recent months by a spate of films addressing the subject.
In the running for an Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony next month is Omar, a Palestinian film that places the awful dilemmas faced by collaborators at the heart of its love story.
Omar nudged out of the competition Israel’s own entry, Bethlehem, which features a similar story about the fraught relationship between a Shin Bet agent and a young Palestinian informant.
And last month the audience award at the Sundance Festival went to the Green Prince, an Israeli documentary based on the memoirs of Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas leader in Gaza who channeled information to the Shin Bet for 10 years before fleeing to the United States. His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, was recently released from an Israeli prison.
With Palestinian collaborators a hot topic in Hollywood, they are also in the spotlight in the occupied territories.
A missile strike that killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari in November 2012 – the opening salvo in Israel’s eight-day attack on Gaza known as Operation Pillar of Defence – has been widely ascribed to intelligence provided by a collaborator.
In response, Hamas carried out public executions of several suspected informants in the streets of Gaza City, including dragging the body of one behind a motorbike.
‘Tightly classified’
According to Hillel Cohen, who has researched Israel’s recruitment of collaborators since the state’s earliest years, the extent of the problem is difficult to assess. Israel keeps most of the archives on its intelligence operations in the occupied territories “tightly classified”.
The use of collaborators, he says, was probably most extensive in the 1970s and ’80s, before Israel handed over areas of the occupied territories to the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords and before the advent of today’s more sophisticated surveillance technology.
Nonetheless, the practice has far from ended.
“Israel still needs people on the ground,” says Cohen. “If they want to place a bomb in a car or supply a phone with a hidden tracking device, someone has to do it. The technology can only help so much.”
According to Saleh Abdel Jawwad, a politics professor at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, there are many different types of collaborators.
In East Jerusalem, for example, where Israel hopes to prevent any future Palestinian control of the city, a feature of life are the “land dealers”, Palestinians who buy land in strategic areas, secretly on behalf of settler organisations.
Israel also uses economic collaborators, who, for example, act as contractors for Israel in selling its products in the occupied territories. Israel has also tried to recruit political collaborators, in an effort to place them in charge of Palestinian communities or weaken candidates Israel opposed.
But Israel prizes most highly the recruitment of active members of Palestinian national organisations, who can provide reliable information on resistance operations or the movements of Palestinian leaders.
Typically, these collaborators are “turned” after their arrest. They may agree to cooperate under torture or as a way to receive a reduced prison sentence, said Morad Jadalah, a researcher with Addameer, a prisoners’ rights organisation in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Children recruited
But the most common type of collaborator is the informant, who provides general information about the activities of political groups or the movement of individual activists, as well as the names of those taking part in demonstrations.
Jadalah says when Palestinians are arrested, as they try to cross a checkpoint or during a raid on their village, the weakest and most vulnerable – often children – are targeted during interrogation with a mix of threats, violence and inducements.
By Jonathan Cook
Fadi al-Qatshan is one of the latest casualties of a war taking place in Gaza’s shadows, as Israel seeks ever more desperate ways to recruit collaborators while Hamas, the Islamic movement ruling Gaza, enforces tough counter-measures.
The 26-year-old graduate died in November. He was killed not by a bullet or in a missile strike, but when a simple piece of medical hardware – an implant in his heart – failed. His repeated requests to the Israeli authorities over more than a year to be allowed out of Gaza for medical treatment had gone unheeded.
According to his family, Israeli security services knew his life was in danger but denied him a permit to attend a medical appointment at a hospital in East Jerusalem. Gaza’s own hospitals, in crisis after years of Israel’s blockade, warned him they could no longer help.
Following a request for a travel permit, his family says al-Qatshan received a call from someone identifying himself as from the Shin Bet, Israel’s intelligence service. Speaking in Arabic, the man said he knew the device in his heart “might explode any minute”. He was urged to “cooperate” in return for a permit.
Al-Qatshan was told he could call the mobile phone number on his screen and arrange an appointment at Erez, the Israeli-controlled crossing that is the only way for ordinary Palestinians to exit Gaza. The agent reportedly rang off with the words, “See you in Tel Aviv”, Israel’s large coastal city. Al-Qatshan sealed his fate by deleting the number.
‘Terrible choices’
Issam Yunis, director of Al-Mezan human rights organisation in Gaza City, says his group regularly records cases of Palestinians in desperate need of medical treatment being approached to collaborate. “The choice for these patients is really a terrible one. It is to cooperate with Israel or die in Gaza.”
Although Israel is suspected of recruiting tens of thousands of Palestinians as collaborators since its creation in 1948, the practice has rarely attracted more than superficial attention. Palestinians are ashamed that cooperation with the Israeli security services is widespread, while Israel is loath to draw attention to the systematic violations of international law at the root of its system of rule in the occupied territories.
But the issue of collaboration is finally emerging from the shadows, assisted in recent months by a spate of films addressing the subject.
In the running for an Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony next month is Omar, a Palestinian film that places the awful dilemmas faced by collaborators at the heart of its love story.
Omar nudged out of the competition Israel’s own entry, Bethlehem, which features a similar story about the fraught relationship between a Shin Bet agent and a young Palestinian informant.
And last month the audience award at the Sundance Festival went to the Green Prince, an Israeli documentary based on the memoirs of Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas leader in Gaza who channeled information to the Shin Bet for 10 years before fleeing to the United States. His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, was recently released from an Israeli prison.
With Palestinian collaborators a hot topic in Hollywood, they are also in the spotlight in the occupied territories.
A missile strike that killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari in November 2012 – the opening salvo in Israel’s eight-day attack on Gaza known as Operation Pillar of Defence – has been widely ascribed to intelligence provided by a collaborator.
In response, Hamas carried out public executions of several suspected informants in the streets of Gaza City, including dragging the body of one behind a motorbike.
‘Tightly classified’
According to Hillel Cohen, who has researched Israel’s recruitment of collaborators since the state’s earliest years, the extent of the problem is difficult to assess. Israel keeps most of the archives on its intelligence operations in the occupied territories “tightly classified”.
The use of collaborators, he says, was probably most extensive in the 1970s and ’80s, before Israel handed over areas of the occupied territories to the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords and before the advent of today’s more sophisticated surveillance technology.
Nonetheless, the practice has far from ended.
“Israel still needs people on the ground,” says Cohen. “If they want to place a bomb in a car or supply a phone with a hidden tracking device, someone has to do it. The technology can only help so much.”
According to Saleh Abdel Jawwad, a politics professor at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, there are many different types of collaborators.
In East Jerusalem, for example, where Israel hopes to prevent any future Palestinian control of the city, a feature of life are the “land dealers”, Palestinians who buy land in strategic areas, secretly on behalf of settler organisations.
Israel also uses economic collaborators, who, for example, act as contractors for Israel in selling its products in the occupied territories. Israel has also tried to recruit political collaborators, in an effort to place them in charge of Palestinian communities or weaken candidates Israel opposed.
But Israel prizes most highly the recruitment of active members of Palestinian national organisations, who can provide reliable information on resistance operations or the movements of Palestinian leaders.
Typically, these collaborators are “turned” after their arrest. They may agree to cooperate under torture or as a way to receive a reduced prison sentence, said Morad Jadalah, a researcher with Addameer, a prisoners’ rights organisation in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Children recruited
But the most common type of collaborator is the informant, who provides general information about the activities of political groups or the movement of individual activists, as well as the names of those taking part in demonstrations.
Jadalah says when Palestinians are arrested, as they try to cross a checkpoint or during a raid on their village, the weakest and most vulnerable – often children – are targeted during interrogation with a mix of threats, violence and inducements.
The Israeli Police in occupied Jerusalem kidnapped a Palestinian photojournalist, identified as Mohammad Abed-Rabbo, over a Facebook post and picture he shared.
Abed Rabbo was moved to the al-Maskobiyya interrogation facility, west of Jerusalem, and was interrogated for more than one hour.
The interrogators told him he was under interrogation for publishing a picture of Jerusalem City Council Head, Nir Barkat, describing him as the “mayor of occupied Jerusalem”.
Abed-Rabbo told the Panet Agency that the interrogators described what he wrote as “incitement”.
His Facebook post came when he was commenting on a visit by Barkat to Sur Baher Palestinian town, in occupied Jerusalem, during the opening ceremony of a public center.
He said that his arrest and interrogation are part of Israel’s ongoing violations against Palestinian journalists and different Palestinian media outlets in occupied Palestine, including the occupied Palestinian city of Jerusalem.
“This type of harassment and intimidation will not deter the journalists from performing their duties”, he said. “They cannot silence us, they cannot blind our cameras that expose their crimes against our people.”
Abed Rabbo was moved to the al-Maskobiyya interrogation facility, west of Jerusalem, and was interrogated for more than one hour.
The interrogators told him he was under interrogation for publishing a picture of Jerusalem City Council Head, Nir Barkat, describing him as the “mayor of occupied Jerusalem”.
Abed-Rabbo told the Panet Agency that the interrogators described what he wrote as “incitement”.
His Facebook post came when he was commenting on a visit by Barkat to Sur Baher Palestinian town, in occupied Jerusalem, during the opening ceremony of a public center.
He said that his arrest and interrogation are part of Israel’s ongoing violations against Palestinian journalists and different Palestinian media outlets in occupied Palestine, including the occupied Palestinian city of Jerusalem.
“This type of harassment and intimidation will not deter the journalists from performing their duties”, he said. “They cannot silence us, they cannot blind our cameras that expose their crimes against our people.”
Israeli soldiers invaded the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, and neighborhoods in the city, and kidnapped seven young Palestinian men.
Nasser Qous, head of the Jerusalem branch of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), said that dozens of soldiers stormed the yards of the mosque, and various neighborhoods in the Old City, assaulted the Palestinians, and kidnapped seven.
The kidnapped Palestinians have been identified as Abdul-Karim al-Haddad, Wahid al-Bakry, Mohammad an-Natsha, Mustafa al-Joulany, Abdullah az-Zourba, Ziad Abu Hadwan and Mohammad D’eis, the Radio Bethlehem 2000 has reported.
Qous said that five of the kidnapped Palestinians were taken prisoner from the yards of the Mosque, and that the army claimed they “were using fireworks”.
All of the kidnapped Palestinians were taken to the al-Qashla police station, near the Hebron Gate of the occupied Old City.
Nasser Qous, head of the Jerusalem branch of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), said that dozens of soldiers stormed the yards of the mosque, and various neighborhoods in the Old City, assaulted the Palestinians, and kidnapped seven.
The kidnapped Palestinians have been identified as Abdul-Karim al-Haddad, Wahid al-Bakry, Mohammad an-Natsha, Mustafa al-Joulany, Abdullah az-Zourba, Ziad Abu Hadwan and Mohammad D’eis, the Radio Bethlehem 2000 has reported.
Qous said that five of the kidnapped Palestinians were taken prisoner from the yards of the Mosque, and that the army claimed they “were using fireworks”.
All of the kidnapped Palestinians were taken to the al-Qashla police station, near the Hebron Gate of the occupied Old City.
