Report: “1790 Palestinians Kidnapped, 16 Killed, In First Half of 2013”

Source : International Middle East Media Center

The Ahrar Center for Detainees Studies and Human Rights have reported that Israeli soldiers kidnapped 1790 Palestinians in the first six months of this year, including 300 who were kidnapped in June, and added that 16 Palestinians have also been shot and killed by Israeli military fire in six months.

The Ahrar Center said that dozens of women, children, elderly, legislators, intellectuals and journalists were among the kidnapped.

The center added that the arrests took place in every part of the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, in addition to 25 arrests in the Gaza Strip, including fishermen and five arrests on border terminals.

Most of the arrests have been carried out in the Hebron district, in the southern part of the West Bank. The second highest number of arrests was carried out in Jerusalem, followed by Nablus.

Ahrar said that February witnessed the largest number of arrests as the soldiers kidnapped 382 Palestinians, while 350 have been kidnapped in January, 300 in June, 263 in May, 259 in April and 236 in March.

The center further reported that the army also kidnapped 7 Palestinian legislators identified as Ahmad Attoun, Hatem Qfeisha, Abdul-Jabbar Foqaha, Imad Nofal, Basem Za’areer, Mahmoud Ramahi, and Mohammad Jamal An-Natsha.

Furthermore, Ahrar said that the army also kidnapped 33 women, including wives and relatives of political prisoners held by Israel, and that 17 of the kidnapped women are still imprisoned by Israel.

The Ahrar Center also said that 14 Palestinians, including 10 from the West Bank, and four from the Gaza Strip, have been shot and killed by the Israeli army since the beginning of this year, in addition to two Palestinian political prisoners who died in Israeli prisons.

Detainee Arafat Jaradat, 33, from Hebron, died of extreme torture by Israeli interrogators, and detainee Maisara Abu Hamdiyya, 64, died of an advanced stage of cancer resulting from the lack of medical treatment in Israeli prisons.

Four more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military fire in the Gaza Strip.

Head of the Ahrar Center, Fuad Al-khoffash, stated that the center documented daily Israeli military invasions; daily arrests and assaults, and demanded the International Community to act against the ongoing and escalating Israeli violations

Israel demolishes West Bank homes, water wells

Source : Al Akhbar English

Israeli forces on Monday demolished Palestinian homes and water wells in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as settlers confiscated land near Hebron to build a new outpost, local media reported.

In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces razed two apartments in the Tur neighborhood after several attempts by the owners to reverse the demolition order failed.

The authorities evicted 24 members of the Ghaith family, including five children and an elderly woman, from the two apartments ahead of the demolition, Rushi Ghaith, one of the owners, told Palestinian news agency Ma'an.

The apartments were scheduled for demolition in December but the family secured a court-ordered injunction to stop it from going ahead, Ghaith said.

The Ghaith family lawyer said they had successfully stalled attempts to raze the apartments since September 2004, when Israeli authorities handed down the demolition notice because the home was built without a licensing permit. The family's case to reverse the demolition order is ongoing.

Ghaith said the family has been fined 80,000 Israeli shekels (about $22,000) since the case began.

Meanwhile Israeli soldiers demolished water wells south of Hebron in al-Fawar refugee camp, as settlers from the nearby Ma’oun settlement seized land west of Yatta in preparation for the establishment of new outposts.

Abdul Hadi Hantash, an expert on settlement policies in the southern West Bank, said that the Ma’oun settlers seized land of one of the hills southwest of their original outpost.

Hantash told reporters that the wells the soldiers destroyed were used for agricultural purposes and irrigation.

He added that the continued confiscation of land and demolition of Palestinian structures, including the bulldozing of homes and uprooting of trees, are part of the Israeli government’s illegal settlement expansion program.

Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes and other structures in the occupied West Bank occur almost daily under the pretext of building without a permit.

According to the United Nations, 33 percent of all Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem lack Israeli-issued building permits, which are difficult to obtain, potentially placing at least 93,100 residents at risk of displacement.

Roughly 94 percent of Palestinian applications for building permits are rejected, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

The group estimates that Israeli authorities have demolished about 27,000 Palestinian structures in the West Bank since 1967.

(Ma’an, Wafa, Al-Akhbar)

Israel destroys over 1,000 olive trees in Hebron village

Source : Maan News Agency

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces destroyed over 1,300 olive trees in the south Hebron hills on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers accompanied officials from Israel's civil administration as demolition crews uprooted hundreds of olive trees in the village of Susiya, Ma'an's reporter said.

According to B'Tselem, there are 26 outstanding Israeli demolition orders in the village.

In February 2012, right-wing settler advocacy group Regavim petitioned Israel's supreme court on behalf of an Israe settlement overshadowing the village, calling for Israeli authorities t implement the demolition orders.

Meanwhile, settlers from Karmi Tzur uprooted 30 olive trees east of Halhu local Saeed Madiyah told Ma'an.

In al-Malih and al-Madareb, in the Jordan Valley, Israeli forces demolished 1 animal shelters belonging to Bedouins in the area.

In Hizma, north of Jerusalem, Israeli forces demolished shelters belonging t Nayef al-Ashab.

Al-Ashab told Ma'an he used the shelters to store produce for his shop and tha he was not warned they would be demolished. The goods were all destroyed the demolition, he said.

Israeli Forces Detain Hamas Leaders in Hebron

Source  :  Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Israeli forces raided the Southern West Bank city of Hebron and detained five local Hamas leaders, local sources said.

Israeli forces ransacked several homes of Hamas leaders before detaining five of them, Ma'an reported Wednesday.

The detainees were identified as Muhammad Natsha, a Hamas-affiliated lawmaker, Abdul-Khaliq Hasan Natsha, Muhammad Tahsin Shawar, Amjad Hamouri and Jawad Muhammad al-Jaabari.

They were all taken to unknown locations.

A military spokeswoman confirmed the arrests but put the number at six.

"They were all members of Hamas," the spokeswoman said.

Separately, Israeli soldiers stormed the home of a Hebron man in Eastern Hebron and turned it into a military base.

Salameh Salaymah said that Israeli troops raided his three-story home at dawn and forced him to gather his 15 family members and stay in the first floor.

Meanwhile, the soldiers stationed themselves on the third floor.

Illegal Israeli bullet claims a Palestinian life

Source :   Al Akhbar English

Israeli forces shot dead a young Palestinian protester Tuesday night using bullets prohibited by international law.

Mahmoud Adel Faris al-Teiti, 25, was hit in the head by expanding “dum dum” bullets during clashes at the al-Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron, according to local media.

“Dum dum” bullets, first made by British colonial forces in India's Calcutta, expand on impact to limit penetration and produce a larger diameter wound. The use of expanding bullets is prohibited by the 1899 Hague Declaration and is listed as a war crime in the Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 8(2)(b)(xix)).

Witnesses said Israeli soldiers raided Fuwar and opened fire after coming under a barrage of rocks from local Palestinians. Hospital officials said a 25-year-old man died after being shot in the head and two others were wounded by the Israelis.

Two other young men were shot and injured by live ammunition. Another six were hit by rubber-coated bullets.

Israeli forces say they only shoot live fire in 'life-threatening situations', but reports of their use in recent weeks have been abundant.

According to Palestinian officials, al-Teiti was the sixth Palestinian killed by Israeli fire in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the beginning of this year. A seventh was killed on the Gaza border on January 11.

Palestinians have also taken to the streets to protest against Israel's extrajudicial jailing of thousands of their countrymen. The resulting confrontations, often bloody, have drawn warnings on both sides that a full Palestinian revolt could be brewing.