23 nov 2016
Israeli Ofer court sentenced on Wednesday the Palestinian young woman Hulwa Hamamra, 26, to six years, Prisoners Media Center said.
Hamamra was arrested in November 2015 after being shot and seriously injured by Israeli forces near Betar Illit settlement illegally built on Hussan town west of Bethlehem for an alleged stabbing attack.
Following her arrest, she spent a month in Israeli hospital where she underwent four surgeries while being tied to the bed.
While she was being held in the hospital, a group of settlers managed to enter her room and threatened to kill her.
Hamamra was then transferred to Ramon prison with no contact to the outside world.
Her trial was postponed for 12 times pending investigation before she was sentenced to six years in prison and a 4,000 shekels fine.
Hamamra was arrested in November 2015 after being shot and seriously injured by Israeli forces near Betar Illit settlement illegally built on Hussan town west of Bethlehem for an alleged stabbing attack.
Following her arrest, she spent a month in Israeli hospital where she underwent four surgeries while being tied to the bed.
While she was being held in the hospital, a group of settlers managed to enter her room and threatened to kill her.
Hamamra was then transferred to Ramon prison with no contact to the outside world.
Her trial was postponed for 12 times pending investigation before she was sentenced to six years in prison and a 4,000 shekels fine.
Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday evening, a young Palestinian man after stopping him at a sudden military roadblock, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers installed a sudden military roadblock, near the al-Bathan Valley area, in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, stopped and searched several cars, and investigated the ID cards of the passenger, while interrogating some of them.
They added that the soldiers abducted a young man, identified as Emad at-Tubasi, while he was on his way back home in Nablus, and took him to an unknown destination.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers installed a sudden military roadblock, near the al-Bathan Valley area, in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, stopped and searched several cars, and investigated the ID cards of the passenger, while interrogating some of them.
They added that the soldiers abducted a young man, identified as Emad at-Tubasi, while he was on his way back home in Nablus, and took him to an unknown destination.
An Israeli magistrate court in Jerusalem, on Wednesday, sentenced a teenaged Palestinian girl to 13-and-a-half years in prison, for a stabbing attack carried out exactly one year ago in Jerusalem.
According to a statement released by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), lawyer Mufid al-Hajj reported that the prison sentence handed down to 17-year-old Nurhan Awwad also came with a fine of 30,000 shekels ($7,757).
Exactly one year ago, when Awwad was 16-years-old, she carried out a stabbing attack with her 14-year-old cousin Hadil Wajih Awwad, who was shot dead by an Israeli security guard during the incident.
Meanwhile, Nurhan was severely wounded with two bullet wounds in her stomach.
Video footage showed both girls running at the security officer waving scissors, before the security guard and another Israeli managed to knock the girls to the ground.
Once on the ground, the security guard ran forward and shot each of them several times.
According to Ma’an News Agency, Hadil Awwad, a resident of the Qalandia refugee camp, died almost immediately. Her brother, Mahmoud Awwad, reportedly died in 2013, several months after he was shot and injured during clashes with Israeli troops inside the refugee camp.
Rights groups have repeatedly denounced what they have termed Israeli forces’ “shoot-to-kill” policy against Palestinians since a wave of violence first erupted in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October, so far leaving 240 Palestinian killed, stating that a number Palestinians had been shot dead even when not constituting an immediate threat at the time of their death or when they could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner.
Nurhan Awwad’s prison sentence is the latest in an Israeli crackdown on Palestinian teenagers who have committed attacks against Israelis, while Israeli authorities have ordered lengthy prison sentences for Palestinians as young as 14 years old.
Ahmad Manasra, 14, made headlines earlier this month when he was sentenced to 12 years in Israeli prison after he was charged with attempted murder for carrying out a stabbing attack on Oct. 12, 2015 that left two Israelis seriously injured. In addition, the court imposed a fine on his family of 180,000 shekels ($47,187).
Meanwhile, on Monday, an Israeli court in Jerusalem also sentenced 19-year-old Subhi Abu Khalifa from the Shufat refugee camp in the West Bank’s Jerusalem district to 18 years in prison for committing a stabbing attack in Jerusalem last year that left two Israelis injured.
In addition, the family of Palestinian prisoner Abed Dwiyaat, 20, said on Monday that their lawyer had reached an agreement with Israeli prosecution, suggesting that Dwiyaat would be sentenced to 18 years in prison for causing the death of an Israeli man after throwing rocks at his vehicle.
In August, the controversial “Youth Bill” was passed in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. The bill allows Israeli authorities to imprison a child under the age of 14 if convicted of “terrorism” against Israeli civilians or military personnel.
While critics said the bill was intended to punish primarily Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem who attempt attacks on Israeli civilians and military, it is just one of several laws which have been passed over the last year targeting Palestinian minors and fast-tracking the imprisonment of Palestinian youth.
In July 2015, legislation was passed in the Israeli Knesset allowing sentencing for up to 20 years for someone convicted of throwing stones at vehicles if intent to harm could be proven. However, the law allows the Israeli state to imprison someone for up to 10 years without proof of intent.
The vast majority of those detained for throwing stones at Israelis are Palestinian minors.
In November, Israel established legislation allowing the sentencing of Palestinians to a minimum of three years in prison for the act of throwing a stone at an Israeli. Included in the legislation were provisions allowing Israeli authorities to strip stone throwers in East Jerusalem of their state benefits and cancel access to national health insurance and social services for the families of the accused.
According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), proposals are also underway to allow Israeli authorities to hand down life sentences to children under the age of 14.
According to prisoners rights group Addameer, 400 Palestinian minors were detained by Israel as of October, many of whom the group said were beaten, threatened, sexually assaulted, and placed in solitary confinement during their interrogation and detention.
According to a statement released by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), lawyer Mufid al-Hajj reported that the prison sentence handed down to 17-year-old Nurhan Awwad also came with a fine of 30,000 shekels ($7,757).
Exactly one year ago, when Awwad was 16-years-old, she carried out a stabbing attack with her 14-year-old cousin Hadil Wajih Awwad, who was shot dead by an Israeli security guard during the incident.
Meanwhile, Nurhan was severely wounded with two bullet wounds in her stomach.
Video footage showed both girls running at the security officer waving scissors, before the security guard and another Israeli managed to knock the girls to the ground.
Once on the ground, the security guard ran forward and shot each of them several times.
According to Ma’an News Agency, Hadil Awwad, a resident of the Qalandia refugee camp, died almost immediately. Her brother, Mahmoud Awwad, reportedly died in 2013, several months after he was shot and injured during clashes with Israeli troops inside the refugee camp.
Rights groups have repeatedly denounced what they have termed Israeli forces’ “shoot-to-kill” policy against Palestinians since a wave of violence first erupted in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October, so far leaving 240 Palestinian killed, stating that a number Palestinians had been shot dead even when not constituting an immediate threat at the time of their death or when they could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner.
Nurhan Awwad’s prison sentence is the latest in an Israeli crackdown on Palestinian teenagers who have committed attacks against Israelis, while Israeli authorities have ordered lengthy prison sentences for Palestinians as young as 14 years old.
Ahmad Manasra, 14, made headlines earlier this month when he was sentenced to 12 years in Israeli prison after he was charged with attempted murder for carrying out a stabbing attack on Oct. 12, 2015 that left two Israelis seriously injured. In addition, the court imposed a fine on his family of 180,000 shekels ($47,187).
Meanwhile, on Monday, an Israeli court in Jerusalem also sentenced 19-year-old Subhi Abu Khalifa from the Shufat refugee camp in the West Bank’s Jerusalem district to 18 years in prison for committing a stabbing attack in Jerusalem last year that left two Israelis injured.
In addition, the family of Palestinian prisoner Abed Dwiyaat, 20, said on Monday that their lawyer had reached an agreement with Israeli prosecution, suggesting that Dwiyaat would be sentenced to 18 years in prison for causing the death of an Israeli man after throwing rocks at his vehicle.
In August, the controversial “Youth Bill” was passed in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. The bill allows Israeli authorities to imprison a child under the age of 14 if convicted of “terrorism” against Israeli civilians or military personnel.
While critics said the bill was intended to punish primarily Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem who attempt attacks on Israeli civilians and military, it is just one of several laws which have been passed over the last year targeting Palestinian minors and fast-tracking the imprisonment of Palestinian youth.
In July 2015, legislation was passed in the Israeli Knesset allowing sentencing for up to 20 years for someone convicted of throwing stones at vehicles if intent to harm could be proven. However, the law allows the Israeli state to imprison someone for up to 10 years without proof of intent.
The vast majority of those detained for throwing stones at Israelis are Palestinian minors.
In November, Israel established legislation allowing the sentencing of Palestinians to a minimum of three years in prison for the act of throwing a stone at an Israeli. Included in the legislation were provisions allowing Israeli authorities to strip stone throwers in East Jerusalem of their state benefits and cancel access to national health insurance and social services for the families of the accused.
According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), proposals are also underway to allow Israeli authorities to hand down life sentences to children under the age of 14.
According to prisoners rights group Addameer, 400 Palestinian minors were detained by Israel as of October, many of whom the group said were beaten, threatened, sexually assaulted, and placed in solitary confinement during their interrogation and detention.
Palestinian hunger striking detainees Anas Shedid and Ahmad Abu Fara have gone through a sharp health deterioration in Israeli detention.
A lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said following a visit paid to the Israeli Assaf Harofe Hospital that the hunger strikers’ health has seen a turn for the worse following 60 days of ongoing starvation in protest at their administrative detention.
The detainees have been diagnosed with a severe weight loss, headaches, dizziness, sight disorders, breathing difficulties, cardio-vascular diseases, and stomach pains.
The lawyer added that the hunger strikers have not taken showers for 20 days due their inability to stand on their foot.
He noted that the detainees are held in an isolated room in the hospital and that harsh measures, including visit restrictions, are being pursued against them despite an earlier decision to suspend their administrative detention.
The lawyer quoted the two hunger strikers as vowing to continue their hunger strike until the Israeli occupation authorities end their administrative detention and transfer them to a Palestinian hospital.
Detainee Amar al-Hmour, from Jenin, has also been on an open-ended hunger-strike to protest administrative detention while Nour Omar, from Qalqilya, embarked on a similar move in response to his solitary confinement.
A lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said following a visit paid to the Israeli Assaf Harofe Hospital that the hunger strikers’ health has seen a turn for the worse following 60 days of ongoing starvation in protest at their administrative detention.
The detainees have been diagnosed with a severe weight loss, headaches, dizziness, sight disorders, breathing difficulties, cardio-vascular diseases, and stomach pains.
The lawyer added that the hunger strikers have not taken showers for 20 days due their inability to stand on their foot.
He noted that the detainees are held in an isolated room in the hospital and that harsh measures, including visit restrictions, are being pursued against them despite an earlier decision to suspend their administrative detention.
The lawyer quoted the two hunger strikers as vowing to continue their hunger strike until the Israeli occupation authorities end their administrative detention and transfer them to a Palestinian hospital.
Detainee Amar al-Hmour, from Jenin, has also been on an open-ended hunger-strike to protest administrative detention while Nour Omar, from Qalqilya, embarked on a similar move in response to his solitary confinement.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested at dawn Wednesday 17 Palestinians in predawn raids throughout West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
Israeli Army claimed that 17 “wanted” Palestinians were detained for allegedly being involved in anti-occupation attacks.
According to the Israeli military sources, two Palestinians were detained in Tulkarem while another was arrested in Salfit. Two more arrests were reported in occupied Jerusalem and five detainees in al-Khalil.
Six Jerusalemite minors were also among the reported arrests.
Weapons and amounts of money were reportedly found during the predawn raids, the sources claimed.
Local sources told PIC reporter that nearly 15 Israeli vehicles carrying dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed Qalqilia north of West Bank and arrested a young man after being summoned for investigation.
A printing house was also stormed and searched in the city, where several equipment were confiscated.
A number of military checkpoints were also erected in the area.
Israeli Army claimed that 17 “wanted” Palestinians were detained for allegedly being involved in anti-occupation attacks.
According to the Israeli military sources, two Palestinians were detained in Tulkarem while another was arrested in Salfit. Two more arrests were reported in occupied Jerusalem and five detainees in al-Khalil.
Six Jerusalemite minors were also among the reported arrests.
Weapons and amounts of money were reportedly found during the predawn raids, the sources claimed.
Local sources told PIC reporter that nearly 15 Israeli vehicles carrying dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed Qalqilia north of West Bank and arrested a young man after being summoned for investigation.
A printing house was also stormed and searched in the city, where several equipment were confiscated.
A number of military checkpoints were also erected in the area.
22 nov 2016
Palestinian grassroots activist Salah Khawaja, the Secretary of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) in Palestine, once again was ordered to eight days interrogation on Wednesday, 16 November.
Khawaja, 45 years of age and a leader of the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall), was seized from his home in a violent raid by Israeli forces on 26 October. He had been denied access to a lawyer for 20 days, and was only allowed to speak to a lawyer for the first time on 16 November, at the Petah Tikva military court.
Since that time, he has been held under interrogation in Petah Tikva, and been subject to numerous intense interrogation sessions. It was reported, by his lawyer, that he had visibly lost weight and has been deprived of sleep.
He has undergone over 40 interrogation sessions, lasting eight to 16 hours each. Khawaja reported to his lawyer that he has been beaten and that interrogators have spit in his face, screamed in his ears, and kicked at his genitals, and that his family members have been threatened, reported Stop The Wall.
Khawaja, 45 years of age and a leader of the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall), was seized from his home in a violent raid by Israeli forces on 26 October. He had been denied access to a lawyer for 20 days, and was only allowed to speak to a lawyer for the first time on 16 November, at the Petah Tikva military court.
Since that time, he has been held under interrogation in Petah Tikva, and been subject to numerous intense interrogation sessions. It was reported, by his lawyer, that he had visibly lost weight and has been deprived of sleep.
He has undergone over 40 interrogation sessions, lasting eight to 16 hours each. Khawaja reported to his lawyer that he has been beaten and that interrogators have spit in his face, screamed in his ears, and kicked at his genitals, and that his family members have been threatened, reported Stop The Wall.
Israeli soldiers abducted, on Tuesday at dawn, five Palestinians from their homes, in Nablus, Jerusalem and Qalqilia, in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said the soldiers invaded and searched several homes, in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, and abducted Jaber ‘Oweiss and Anas Hamdan.
It added that the soldiers also invaded the homes in the northern West Bank district of Qalqilia, and abducted one Palestinian, identified as Rashed Ali Radwan, 25.
In Jerusalem, the soldiers also invaded and searched a number of homes, and kidnapped Mohammad Mahmoud Dabash and Raed al-Moghrabi.
4 Palestinians kidnapped by IOF from West Bank
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Tuesday kidnapped four Palestinians from the West Bank provinces of Nablus and Bethlehem.
The Israeli occupation army claimed, in a statement, responsibility for the abduction of three Palestinians from Nablus, two among whom affiliated with Hamas Movement.
A PIC news correspondent said the IOF rolled into the Balata refugee camp in eastern Nablus and kidnapped 50-year-old Jaber Aweis after they wreaked havoc on his family home.
Aweis’s eldest son said the IOF stormed the camp at 2 a.m. and cordoned off the family home before they kidnapped his father on account of his affiliation with Hamas.
He added that his father had been kidnapped in five earlier occasions by the IOF and that he was last released in February.
The family voiced deep concern over Aweis’s health status, after medics diagnosed him with sight disorders caused by Israeli bullet shrapnel. He had undergone medical surgeries both inside and outside Israeli jails.
The IOF further rummaged into the home of ex-prisoner Mootassem Abdul Aal in Balata camp.
Youngster Anas Hamdan was kidnapped by the occupation soldiers from his family home in al-Ein camp, to the west of Nablus.
At the same time, the IOF ravaged civilian homes in Qaryout town, to the southeast of Nablus.
Member of the local village council Bashar Al-Qaryouti said the IOF subjected several minors to exhaustive interrogation.
Overnight, the occupation army pitched a military checkpoint near Beita town crossroads, in southern Nablus, where Palestinians have been made to endure intensive searches.
The IOF further searched two Palestinians driving near the Yitzahar crossroads, on Hawara thoroughfare, and seized their car.
The predawn campaign culminated in the abduction of a Palestinian youth from the southern occupied West Bank province of Bethlehem.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said the soldiers invaded and searched several homes, in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, and abducted Jaber ‘Oweiss and Anas Hamdan.
It added that the soldiers also invaded the homes in the northern West Bank district of Qalqilia, and abducted one Palestinian, identified as Rashed Ali Radwan, 25.
In Jerusalem, the soldiers also invaded and searched a number of homes, and kidnapped Mohammad Mahmoud Dabash and Raed al-Moghrabi.
4 Palestinians kidnapped by IOF from West Bank
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Tuesday kidnapped four Palestinians from the West Bank provinces of Nablus and Bethlehem.
The Israeli occupation army claimed, in a statement, responsibility for the abduction of three Palestinians from Nablus, two among whom affiliated with Hamas Movement.
A PIC news correspondent said the IOF rolled into the Balata refugee camp in eastern Nablus and kidnapped 50-year-old Jaber Aweis after they wreaked havoc on his family home.
Aweis’s eldest son said the IOF stormed the camp at 2 a.m. and cordoned off the family home before they kidnapped his father on account of his affiliation with Hamas.
He added that his father had been kidnapped in five earlier occasions by the IOF and that he was last released in February.
The family voiced deep concern over Aweis’s health status, after medics diagnosed him with sight disorders caused by Israeli bullet shrapnel. He had undergone medical surgeries both inside and outside Israeli jails.
The IOF further rummaged into the home of ex-prisoner Mootassem Abdul Aal in Balata camp.
Youngster Anas Hamdan was kidnapped by the occupation soldiers from his family home in al-Ein camp, to the west of Nablus.
At the same time, the IOF ravaged civilian homes in Qaryout town, to the southeast of Nablus.
Member of the local village council Bashar Al-Qaryouti said the IOF subjected several minors to exhaustive interrogation.
Overnight, the occupation army pitched a military checkpoint near Beita town crossroads, in southern Nablus, where Palestinians have been made to endure intensive searches.
The IOF further searched two Palestinians driving near the Yitzahar crossroads, on Hawara thoroughfare, and seized their car.
The predawn campaign culminated in the abduction of a Palestinian youth from the southern occupied West Bank province of Bethlehem.
The Palestinian commission for freedoms, martyrs and prisoners in the 1948 occupied territories intends to stage a sit-in on Tuesday, November 22, in solidarity with Sheikh Ra’ed Salah, who has been in solitary confinement since last May.
The commission invited the Arab citizens to participate in the sit-in to be held in the morning today outside Eshel prison in Beersheba.
Sheikh Salah, head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied Palestine, went on hunger strike on November 13 for five days in Ramon jail in protest at his detention in an isolation cell since he started his prison term six months ago and his exposure along with other fellow prisoners to maltreatment by Israeli jailers.
Last May, the Israeli higher court sentenced Sheikh Salah to nine months in prison on a charge of inciting violence in a religious sermon dating back to 2007.
The commission invited the Arab citizens to participate in the sit-in to be held in the morning today outside Eshel prison in Beersheba.
Sheikh Salah, head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied Palestine, went on hunger strike on November 13 for five days in Ramon jail in protest at his detention in an isolation cell since he started his prison term six months ago and his exposure along with other fellow prisoners to maltreatment by Israeli jailers.
Last May, the Israeli higher court sentenced Sheikh Salah to nine months in prison on a charge of inciting violence in a religious sermon dating back to 2007.
Israeli prison soldiers stormed section 14 of Nafha jail and physically assaulted prisoners, according to the Palestinian Commission for Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ affairs on Monday.
Head of the commission Issa Qaraqea said that prison squad soldiers stormed and ransacked a room in section 14 of the prison and brutalized prisoners.
Qaraqea added that the soldiers transferred a number of prisoners from this room to isolation cells.
The official, however, did not provide an explanation on why this punitive measure was taken against the prisoners.
Head of the commission Issa Qaraqea said that prison squad soldiers stormed and ransacked a room in section 14 of the prison and brutalized prisoners.
Qaraqea added that the soldiers transferred a number of prisoners from this room to isolation cells.
The official, however, did not provide an explanation on why this punitive measure was taken against the prisoners.
The Israeli prison authority unjustifiably transferred prisoner Nael al-Barghouthi, known as the dean of the Palestinian prisoners, from Negev jail to Ramon prison on Monday evening.
A human rights source told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that the transfer of Barghouthi to another prison was a punitive measure taken against him for an unknown reason.
59-year-old Barghouthi, from Kobar town in Ramallah, was one of those prisoners who obtained their freedom in 2011 as part of the swap deal between the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and Israel before he was rejailed again in June 2014.
He was supposed to be released on November 6, but his jailers did not want to see him out of jail and filed an objection in this regard, which was approved by an Israeli court.
He is considered the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, where he has spent a total of 36 years.
A human rights source told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that the transfer of Barghouthi to another prison was a punitive measure taken against him for an unknown reason.
59-year-old Barghouthi, from Kobar town in Ramallah, was one of those prisoners who obtained their freedom in 2011 as part of the swap deal between the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and Israel before he was rejailed again in June 2014.
He was supposed to be released on November 6, but his jailers did not want to see him out of jail and filed an objection in this regard, which was approved by an Israeli court.
He is considered the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, where he has spent a total of 36 years.
