5 feb 2017
Palestinian activists renewed affirmation on Sunday that arresting the Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qiq by the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) is an arbitrary action that has no legal justification.
Naser Abu Bakr, representative of the Palestinian journalists, said in a conference held by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) in Ramallah city on Sunday that arresting journalist al-Qiq falls in line with Israeli practices targeting Palestinian journalists in an attempt to distort the truth.
For his part, Head of Liberties Committee, Mohammed al-Lahham, affirmed that the members of the PJS will continue to defend al-Qiq and all detained journalists using the legal means available, especially that they were arrested for their work in journalism.
Journalist Fayha Shalash, al-Qiq's wife, said that arresting her husband and extending his detention "is part of an Israeli attempt to eliminate the Palestinian icons," adding that Israel seeks to break the symbolic image of individual hunger strikes.
Shalash added that the IOA is trying to find a justification or charge for holding her husband through summoning her for interrogation as well as raiding the family's house and wreaking havoc in it.
She called on the PJS and all human rights organizations to act against Israel's flimsy allegations aimed at renewing al-Qiq's investigation, and asked the Palestinian presidency and government to pressure Israel to release him.
The defense lawyer Khaled Zabarqa said that the accusations mentioned in al-Qiq's file which was submitted to the court are related to his political activities and his support for the issues of Palestinian martyrs and prisoners.
Zabarqa mentioned that prosecuting journalist al-Qiq is an arbitrary action that has no legal basis, noting that until this moment the IOA couldn't find any charge that convicts him.
The lawyer pointed out that al-Qiq will appear in court on Monday for trial to discuss his legal situation, adding that al-Qiq is sticking to his decision to go on a hunger strike once turned to administrative detention.
The Israeli occupation forces re-arrested journalist al-Qiq at Beit El checkpoint to the north of al-Bireh city on 15th January 2017 after detaining him along with a number of relatives of Palestinian martyrs who had attended a protest in Bethlehem and who were later released.
The Palestinian journalist was previously arrested on 21st November 2015 by the IOA after raiding his house in Abu Qash town, to the north of Ramallah, and turned him to administrative detention that lasted for 6 months.
On 19th May 2016, al-Qiq clinched a deal following a 94-day hunger strike that he started on 25th November 2015 in protest at the bad treatment, administrative detention, and torture.
Naser Abu Bakr, representative of the Palestinian journalists, said in a conference held by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) in Ramallah city on Sunday that arresting journalist al-Qiq falls in line with Israeli practices targeting Palestinian journalists in an attempt to distort the truth.
For his part, Head of Liberties Committee, Mohammed al-Lahham, affirmed that the members of the PJS will continue to defend al-Qiq and all detained journalists using the legal means available, especially that they were arrested for their work in journalism.
Journalist Fayha Shalash, al-Qiq's wife, said that arresting her husband and extending his detention "is part of an Israeli attempt to eliminate the Palestinian icons," adding that Israel seeks to break the symbolic image of individual hunger strikes.
Shalash added that the IOA is trying to find a justification or charge for holding her husband through summoning her for interrogation as well as raiding the family's house and wreaking havoc in it.
She called on the PJS and all human rights organizations to act against Israel's flimsy allegations aimed at renewing al-Qiq's investigation, and asked the Palestinian presidency and government to pressure Israel to release him.
The defense lawyer Khaled Zabarqa said that the accusations mentioned in al-Qiq's file which was submitted to the court are related to his political activities and his support for the issues of Palestinian martyrs and prisoners.
Zabarqa mentioned that prosecuting journalist al-Qiq is an arbitrary action that has no legal basis, noting that until this moment the IOA couldn't find any charge that convicts him.
The lawyer pointed out that al-Qiq will appear in court on Monday for trial to discuss his legal situation, adding that al-Qiq is sticking to his decision to go on a hunger strike once turned to administrative detention.
The Israeli occupation forces re-arrested journalist al-Qiq at Beit El checkpoint to the north of al-Bireh city on 15th January 2017 after detaining him along with a number of relatives of Palestinian martyrs who had attended a protest in Bethlehem and who were later released.
The Palestinian journalist was previously arrested on 21st November 2015 by the IOA after raiding his house in Abu Qash town, to the north of Ramallah, and turned him to administrative detention that lasted for 6 months.
On 19th May 2016, al-Qiq clinched a deal following a 94-day hunger strike that he started on 25th November 2015 in protest at the bad treatment, administrative detention, and torture.
An Israeli court on Sunday morning sentenced a teenage Palestinian girl from Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem to six years in prison after she was charged with knife possession and planning a stab attack.
Hayat Shweiki told Ma'an that the Jerusalem magistrate's court formally sentenced her daughter Manar Majdi Shweiki to six years in prison after the girl had already spent more than a year in detention, highlighting that the court postponed the sentencing twice since the beginning of 2017.
Her lawyer Mustafa Yahya said last week that the ruling was postponed because the court was awaiting a report regarding Shweiki's behavior over the course of her detention, though Yahya said at the time he already reached a plea bargain with the Israeli prosecution that determined the six-year sentence.
Since her detention in December last year, Shweiki has been moved between Israel's Ramla and HaSharon prisons.
Israeli police first detained her on Dec. 6 in the Wadi Hilweh area of the Silwan, claiming they found a knife in her bag after searching her belongings, though it was unclear what had prompted the search in the first place.
Ma'an reported at the time that Palestinian youths filmed the search and arrest of the girl on their phones, which were later confiscated by Israeli forces, and clashes subsequently broke out in the area with one youth being injured from shrapnel after a stun grenade exploded nearby.
Two days later, Israeli authorities released Shweiki, but on Dec. 22, Israeli police detained her again on the streets of occupied East Jerusalem's Old City in the al-Sharaf neighborhood. It remained unclear what prompted forces to detain her the second time.
Her prison sentence is the latest in an Israeli crackdown on young Jerusalemite Palestinians, many of them women, who have been accused of involvement in attacks, while Israeli authorities have ordered lengthy prison sentences for Palestinians as young as 14 years old in both East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Despite “on paper” having more rights than Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank who are subject to a draconian military detention system, in practice, Jerusalem minors “do not enjoy their enshrined rights” under a discriminatory Israeli civilian court system, according to rights group Defense for Children International - Palestine.
Most recently on Tuesday, an Israeli military court sentenced 16-year-old Amal Jamal Qabha to 18 months in prison for allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier last year.
Some of the harsher sentences to be handed down recently include a 35-year sentence to a 22-year-old Jerusalemite for allegedly assisting in a deadly stabbing attack, an eight-and-a-half-year sentence for an alleged stabbing attempt by a 17-year-old East Jerusalem girl, 16 years in prison and a $20,929 fine for a 19-year-old Palestinian girl who was shot and injured while allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli settler, while a Palestinian youth was sentenced to 18 years in prison for allegedly throwing a rock at an Israeli vehicle that caused the death of an Israeli -- representing the harshest sentence ever handed down for stone-throwing.
Last October, prisoners’ rights group Addameer reported that Israel was holding 64 female Palestinian prisoners and some 400 Palestinian minors.
Since a wave of political unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October 2015, leading to Israeli forces carrying out mass detention campaigns, the number of Palestinian women and girls detained by Israeli forces has risen sharply.
According to Addameer, among those detained between October 2015 and August 2016 were 13 underage girls, some of whom were wounded when Israeli forces detained them.
The group has also reported on the treatment of Palestinian women prisoners by Israeli prison authorities, stating that the majority of Palestinian women detainees were subjected to "psychological torture" and "ill-treatment" by Israeli authorities, including "various forms of sexual violence that occur such as beatings, insults, threats, body searches, and sexually explicit harassment.”
Hayat Shweiki told Ma'an that the Jerusalem magistrate's court formally sentenced her daughter Manar Majdi Shweiki to six years in prison after the girl had already spent more than a year in detention, highlighting that the court postponed the sentencing twice since the beginning of 2017.
Her lawyer Mustafa Yahya said last week that the ruling was postponed because the court was awaiting a report regarding Shweiki's behavior over the course of her detention, though Yahya said at the time he already reached a plea bargain with the Israeli prosecution that determined the six-year sentence.
Since her detention in December last year, Shweiki has been moved between Israel's Ramla and HaSharon prisons.
Israeli police first detained her on Dec. 6 in the Wadi Hilweh area of the Silwan, claiming they found a knife in her bag after searching her belongings, though it was unclear what had prompted the search in the first place.
Ma'an reported at the time that Palestinian youths filmed the search and arrest of the girl on their phones, which were later confiscated by Israeli forces, and clashes subsequently broke out in the area with one youth being injured from shrapnel after a stun grenade exploded nearby.
Two days later, Israeli authorities released Shweiki, but on Dec. 22, Israeli police detained her again on the streets of occupied East Jerusalem's Old City in the al-Sharaf neighborhood. It remained unclear what prompted forces to detain her the second time.
Her prison sentence is the latest in an Israeli crackdown on young Jerusalemite Palestinians, many of them women, who have been accused of involvement in attacks, while Israeli authorities have ordered lengthy prison sentences for Palestinians as young as 14 years old in both East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Despite “on paper” having more rights than Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank who are subject to a draconian military detention system, in practice, Jerusalem minors “do not enjoy their enshrined rights” under a discriminatory Israeli civilian court system, according to rights group Defense for Children International - Palestine.
Most recently on Tuesday, an Israeli military court sentenced 16-year-old Amal Jamal Qabha to 18 months in prison for allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier last year.
Some of the harsher sentences to be handed down recently include a 35-year sentence to a 22-year-old Jerusalemite for allegedly assisting in a deadly stabbing attack, an eight-and-a-half-year sentence for an alleged stabbing attempt by a 17-year-old East Jerusalem girl, 16 years in prison and a $20,929 fine for a 19-year-old Palestinian girl who was shot and injured while allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli settler, while a Palestinian youth was sentenced to 18 years in prison for allegedly throwing a rock at an Israeli vehicle that caused the death of an Israeli -- representing the harshest sentence ever handed down for stone-throwing.
Last October, prisoners’ rights group Addameer reported that Israel was holding 64 female Palestinian prisoners and some 400 Palestinian minors.
Since a wave of political unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October 2015, leading to Israeli forces carrying out mass detention campaigns, the number of Palestinian women and girls detained by Israeli forces has risen sharply.
According to Addameer, among those detained between October 2015 and August 2016 were 13 underage girls, some of whom were wounded when Israeli forces detained them.
The group has also reported on the treatment of Palestinian women prisoners by Israeli prison authorities, stating that the majority of Palestinian women detainees were subjected to "psychological torture" and "ill-treatment" by Israeli authorities, including "various forms of sexual violence that occur such as beatings, insults, threats, body searches, and sexually explicit harassment.”
Israeli forces detained nine Palestinians in predawn military raids Sunday across the occupied West Bank districts of Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, and Bethlehem.
State-run Palestinian news agency Wafa identified those detained in the southern Bethlehem district as Muhammad Rashad Issa, his brother Ahmad, and Qusay Issa from the town of al-Khader. Ahmad Ibrahim al-Umour, 19, was detained in the village of Tuqu, while 16-year-old Muhammad Raed Hamamrah was detained in Husan.
An Israeli army spokesperson said that six total detentions were carried out in the Bethlehem area, though she said two where made in al-Khader, one in Tuqu, and two alleged "Hamas operatives" in Husan.
The spokesperson added that another Palestinian was detained in the central occupied West Bank village of Deir Nidham in the Ramallah district, and two alleged Hamas operatives were detained in Hebron in the southern West Bank.
Wafa's report also said that Israeli police detained a Muhammad Abd al-Samad Shawahna from his working place in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, for lacking a work permit to enter Israel. The news agency said Shawahna was a resident of Silat al-Harithiya village in the northernmost West Bank district of Jenin.
Israeli forces carry out detention raids across the occupied Palestinian territory on a near-nightly basis, with the UN recording an average of 95 weekly raids in the West Bank in 2016, and 100 weekly raids thus far in 2017.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, 7,000 Palestinians were detained in Israeli prisons as of October 2016.
State-run Palestinian news agency Wafa identified those detained in the southern Bethlehem district as Muhammad Rashad Issa, his brother Ahmad, and Qusay Issa from the town of al-Khader. Ahmad Ibrahim al-Umour, 19, was detained in the village of Tuqu, while 16-year-old Muhammad Raed Hamamrah was detained in Husan.
An Israeli army spokesperson said that six total detentions were carried out in the Bethlehem area, though she said two where made in al-Khader, one in Tuqu, and two alleged "Hamas operatives" in Husan.
The spokesperson added that another Palestinian was detained in the central occupied West Bank village of Deir Nidham in the Ramallah district, and two alleged Hamas operatives were detained in Hebron in the southern West Bank.
Wafa's report also said that Israeli police detained a Muhammad Abd al-Samad Shawahna from his working place in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, for lacking a work permit to enter Israel. The news agency said Shawahna was a resident of Silat al-Harithiya village in the northernmost West Bank district of Jenin.
Israeli forces carry out detention raids across the occupied Palestinian territory on a near-nightly basis, with the UN recording an average of 95 weekly raids in the West Bank in 2016, and 100 weekly raids thus far in 2017.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, 7,000 Palestinians were detained in Israeli prisons as of October 2016.
A number of Palestinians were injured and others were arrested in assaults launched by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) across Nablus and Jenin provinces at daybreak Sunday.
Reporting from Nablus, a PIC news correspondent said seven Israeli army patrols rolled into the eastern area via the Hawara checkpoint at around 1 a.m. and cordoned off the Askar al-Jadeed Camp, al-Quds Street, al-Hasaba Street, and the popular quarter.
Clashes flared up shortly after the occupation troops stormed Jenin’s western town of Rumana, in the northern West Bank, and came down heavily on Palestinian youths.
According to local sources, an Israeli army patrol combed the area between Rumana and the adjacent Salem military camp before they broke into the town and chased down Palestinian anti-occupation protesters.
The IOF attacked the Palestinians with heavy spates of teargas canisters, resulting in several suffocation cases, including among children and women.
The Palestinian youths responded by hurling stones at the heavily-armed occupation patrols.
A military checkpoint was also pitched by the IOF on the main access road to the town, where Palestinian vehicles and civilians have been subjected to intensive inspection.
The assault culminated in the abduction of two Palestinian youngsters near the separation fence in Rumana village. Both arrestees were dragged by the IOF to the Salem military camp.
Another round of clashes rocked Jenin’s western town of Zabouba, where the IOF targeted the Palestinian protesters with randomly-unleashed barrages of teargas canisters.
Reporting from Nablus, a PIC news correspondent said seven Israeli army patrols rolled into the eastern area via the Hawara checkpoint at around 1 a.m. and cordoned off the Askar al-Jadeed Camp, al-Quds Street, al-Hasaba Street, and the popular quarter.
Clashes flared up shortly after the occupation troops stormed Jenin’s western town of Rumana, in the northern West Bank, and came down heavily on Palestinian youths.
According to local sources, an Israeli army patrol combed the area between Rumana and the adjacent Salem military camp before they broke into the town and chased down Palestinian anti-occupation protesters.
The IOF attacked the Palestinians with heavy spates of teargas canisters, resulting in several suffocation cases, including among children and women.
The Palestinian youths responded by hurling stones at the heavily-armed occupation patrols.
A military checkpoint was also pitched by the IOF on the main access road to the town, where Palestinian vehicles and civilians have been subjected to intensive inspection.
The assault culminated in the abduction of two Palestinian youngsters near the separation fence in Rumana village. Both arrestees were dragged by the IOF to the Salem military camp.
Another round of clashes rocked Jenin’s western town of Zabouba, where the IOF targeted the Palestinian protesters with randomly-unleashed barrages of teargas canisters.
4 feb 2017
Head of Prisoners’ Media Office in Gaza Abdurrhaman Shadid revealed on Saturday that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails put conditions to start dialogue with Israeli Prison Service (IPS) on Sunday in order to end the state of tension which has been prevailing at prisons since two stabbing attacks had been carried out in Nafha and Negev jails last Wednesday.
Shadid disclosed that the conditions included having prisoner Mohammad Erman, head of the higher committee of Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails, at the upcoming dialogue sessions.
He underlined that detainees will discuss the period of solitary confinement against both captives who carried out the stabbing attacks: Ahmad Nassar from Madama town, south of Nablus, and Khaled al-Silawi from the Gaza Strip.
Other conditions included halting the IPS search campaigns as well as humiliation practices against Palestinian detainees. A state of cautious calm is prevailing in prisons at the moment, Shadid told the PIC reporter .
Shadid opined that the IPS is going to answer prisoners’ demands, highlighting that it did not expect the reactions of Palestinian prisoners to its repeated and escalated violations against them in recent days.
Shadid disclosed that the conditions included having prisoner Mohammad Erman, head of the higher committee of Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails, at the upcoming dialogue sessions.
He underlined that detainees will discuss the period of solitary confinement against both captives who carried out the stabbing attacks: Ahmad Nassar from Madama town, south of Nablus, and Khaled al-Silawi from the Gaza Strip.
Other conditions included halting the IPS search campaigns as well as humiliation practices against Palestinian detainees. A state of cautious calm is prevailing in prisons at the moment, Shadid told the PIC reporter .
Shadid opined that the IPS is going to answer prisoners’ demands, highlighting that it did not expect the reactions of Palestinian prisoners to its repeated and escalated violations against them in recent days.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested late Friday a Palestinian young man at a military checkpoint near Ramallah.
The PIC reporter quoted local sources as saying that Musab Balasma, 26, was stopped and searched at a make-shift checkpoint before being taken to an unknown detention center.
Israeli forces erect make-shift and permanent staffed checkpoints throughout the West Bank. At these checkpoints, which constitute the most severe restriction on movement of Palestinians, dozens of Palestinians are arrested.
The PIC reporter quoted local sources as saying that Musab Balasma, 26, was stopped and searched at a make-shift checkpoint before being taken to an unknown detention center.
Israeli forces erect make-shift and permanent staffed checkpoints throughout the West Bank. At these checkpoints, which constitute the most severe restriction on movement of Palestinians, dozens of Palestinians are arrested.