PALESTINE

Sun 27 Aug 2023 9:25 am - Jerusalem Time

Al-Tibi: Bin Ghafir grew up chanting “Death to the Arabs”

On Sunday, the Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, Ahmed al-Tibi, attacked the so-called extremist national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, against the backdrop of the wave of violence witnessed by the Palestinian community inside the occupied territories.


Al-Tibi said in statements to the Hebrew Radio 103, that Ben Gvir grew up memorizing for many years the saying “death to the Arabs”, and now the Arabs are dying before his eyes, and I do not think that he sees what is happening for him as a failure, because he is a factor of chaos.


And he considered that the Israeli government is able to stop the wave of violence, but it does not, pointing out that the general thinking of the Arab public is that there is an official decision that this chaos remains in Arab society and that they must deal with preserving their lives and not with other issues. This is what the Commissioner said, that the mentality of the Arabs is to kill each other.


Regarding Ben Gvir's statements about the settlers' right to freedom of movement in the West Bank, which is more important than the Palestinians' freedom of movement, Tibi said: "I translated his words and sent them to the world, because it is tantamount to acknowledging the existence of apartheid, and there are many who do and preserve this reality, not only Ben Gvir, this government And all its members support this situation."

PALESTINE

Sun 27 Aug 2023 8:34 am - Jerusalem Time

Likud officials warn of a collapse of the Israeli government

Senior officials in the Israeli right-wing Likud party warned, on Sunday, of the collapse of the government coalition, on the back of opinion polls indicating a decline in the popularity of these parties in the event of any new elections.


According to the Hebrew Maariv newspaper, several proposals were presented within the Likud for holding new elections as a popular referendum on the issue of judicial reforms, but the low levels that appear in recent opinion polls indicate the party's decline, along with the government coalition parties.


Officials in the Likud party consider that the elections today are the only recipe for mass suicide for the right-wing camp, which is reaching its lowest levels.


Some voices within the party, led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are calling for avoiding moving forward with judicial reforms and trying to reach an agreement on them and strengthening the position of the current government by pushing for an improvement in the economy, security, and others, to be an asset to right-wing parties in the upcoming elections.

PALESTINE

Sun 27 Aug 2023 8:29 am - Jerusalem Time

Dozens of settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque

On Sunday, dozens of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the strict protection of the occupation police.


The settlers made provocative tours inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and performed Talmudic rituals.


Settler groups storm Al-Aqsa on a daily basis, except for Friday and Saturday.

PALESTINE

Sun 27 Aug 2023 8:19 am - Jerusalem Time

A young man was killed in a new crime inside the 48 territories

Ali Abu Saleh (30 years old) was killed on Sunday morning, in a new shooting crime inside the 48 territories.


According to the Hebrew website Ynet, Abu Saleh was shot inside his car in the city of Sakhnin, and a lifeless body was transported from the scene to a nearby hospital.


PALESTINE

Sun 27 Aug 2023 7:56 am - Jerusalem Time

Injuries by the occupation forces in Tulkarm camp

At dawn on Sunday, 5 civilians were wounded by Israeli forces, after they stormed the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank.


According to local sources, special forces infiltrated the camp, followed by military reinforcements, where snipers were installed and several houses in the camp were raided. Violent armed clashes erupted between the occupation forces and the resistance groups.


Clashes also broke out between dozens of young men and those forces, who used live bullets, rubber and tear gas canisters. Five young men were wounded, one of whom was described as serious, and was transferred to Nablus hospitals for treatment.


PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 9:55 pm - Jerusalem Time

Settlers attack citizens' vehicles south and east of Hebron

Saturday evening, settlers attacked citizens' vehicles with stones, south and east of Hebron.


According to local sources, a group of settlers from "Haggai" and "Kiryat Arba" settlements, which are established on citizens' lands south and east of Hebron, organized provocative marches and attacked citizens' vehicles with stones, without any injuries reported.


The sources added that the occupation forces set up a military checkpoint at the Beit Einoun roundabout, obstructing the passage of citizens and checking their identity cards.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 8:57 pm - Jerusalem Time

For the 34th week in a row: Demonstrations renewed against the Netanyahu government

Saturday evening, the protest demonstrations against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and its plan to weaken the judiciary were renewed, for the 34th week in a row.


Demonstrations took place in dozens of cities and towns, including Tel Aviv and Haifa. This week, the demonstrations focused on the failure of the Israeli government to deal with the rampant crime in Palestinian cities and towns within the 48 territories.


Tens of thousands participated in a demonstration that started from Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv, to the main protest headquarters on Kaplan Street, and a number of them carried coffins with the number of victims of crimes committed in Palestinian society within the 48 territories since the beginning of this year.


During the weekly demonstrations against the plan to weaken the "judiciary", the organizers of the protests touched on various issues related to women's rights in Israeli society, the disruption of the Tel Aviv light rail on Saturdays, and other issues.


A mass demonstration was also organized at the "Horef" junction in Haifa, the "Karkur" junction in Pardes Hana, Nahf, Basma Tib'oun, Ness Ziona, Herzliya, Kfar Saba and others.


During the demonstration at the Karkur junction, opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the extremist so-called "minister of national security" Itamar Ben Gvir, vowing to continue working against the Israeli "extremist government".


"I saw Ben Gvir on TV, and I heard him," Lapid said. "He is a pathetic racist, and a complete failure... He is harmful to Israel's image, to the judicial system, to values, and the prime minister does not condemn his statements because he relies on him."


He added, "The Israeli majority will defeat the government of extremists. This is a large and overwhelming majority, the millions of Israelis who say to the government: We will not abandon our country and the future of our children."


The organizers of the protests said, in a statement before the start of the demonstrations, that "Israel is bleeding, the economy is collapsing, and in this government of destruction, they continue the race towards turning Israel into a religious dictatorship, incitement, exclusion, neglect, and trampling on the values of equality and justice."


They continued: "This government is illegitimate, and Israel can only be saved through firm and uncompromising protest. We will fight it together until we are victorious."


On July 24, the Israeli Knesset voted, in the second and third readings, on a bill abolishing the reasonableness argument, thus becoming an effective law despite widespread internal objections.


The law would prevent Israeli courts, including the Supreme Court, from applying what is known as the "standard of reasonableness" to decisions made by elected officials.


The law abolishing the reasonableness argument is one of the 8 bills put forward by the Israeli government as part of its plan to weaken the judiciary.


The Netanyahu government seeks to make radical amendments to the legal and judicial systems, to almost completely eliminate the Supreme Court's authority for judicial review, and to give the government an automatic majority in the judges' selection committee, which a wide segment of Israelis sees as "targeting democracy and undermining the judicial system."


Since the plan was announced in early January, tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated weekly to denounce the government that Netanyahu formed in December and its plan to weaken the "judiciary".

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 8:53 pm - Jerusalem Time

Princess Lalla Hasnaa receives Jerusalemite children at the Guest Palace in Rabat

By order of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Princess Lalla Hasnaa received, Saturday, at the Guest Palace in Rabat, the Jerusalemite children participating in the 14th session of the summer camp organized by the Beit Mal Jerusalem Agency.


The camp, which is organized under the high patronage of King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, and at the initiative of the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency, reflects the special care that the King, gives to the Holy City and its inhabitants.


This initiative comes to enhance the work of the Bait Mal Al-Quds Agency, which aims to support the Holy City of Jerusalem and its inhabitants, through various projects with a clear and obvious impact on Jerusalemites, especially women, children and people in difficult situations.


The total number of beneficiaries of the summer camps program of the Beit Mal Al-Quds Agency since its launch in 2008, which reached its 14th session this year, is a total of 700 children from different neighborhoods of the Holy City, accompanied by 70 coaches, who visited various regions of the Kingdom and stood on the strength of Moroccan solidarity with the Palestinians. .


Similar to the previous courses, Jerusalemite children (male and female) between the ages of 11 and 14, who were accompanied by admins from the Holy City, benefited from the camp's current session, which was dubbed the "Green March" and organized from 10 to 26 August.


Subsequently, Mr. Muhammad Salem Al-Sharqawi, the director in charge of running the Beit Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency, presented a book on the chronology of the summer camp sessions in Morocco for the benefit of the children of Jerusalem 2008-2023.


On this occasion, Princess Lalla Hasnaa took a souvenir photo with the Jerusalemite children participating in the camp and their sponsors.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 8:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Occupation Gunboats open fire towards fishermen's boats, south of Gaza

Occupation gunboats opened fire, this evening, Saturday, at fishermen's boats in the Rafah Sea, south of the Gaza Strip.


According to local sources, the occupation boats stationed in the open sea of Rafah opened heavy machine-gun fire at the fishermen's boats operating at sea, forcing them to leave and retreat, without any casualties among the fishermen.


The occupation forces deliberately target fishermen on a daily basis to prevent them from obtaining their livelihood.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 8:28 pm - Jerusalem Time

Settlers attack citizens north of Ramallah

Today, Saturday evening, settlers attacked citizens in the village of Al-Mazraa Al-Gharbiya, northwest of Ramallah.


According to local sources, a group of settlers stormed the "Na'alan" area in the village of Al-Mazra'a Al-Gharbia, and attacked the citizens who tried to confront them, without any injuries reported.


It is noteworthy that settlers storm the aforementioned area continuously, attacking citizens on their lands and trying to provoke them.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 7:56 pm - Jerusalem Time

Ramallah: A stand of support for the prisoner Walid Daqqa and hunger-striking prisoners

Prisoners' institutions and national and Islamic forces in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate organized, this Saturday evening, a stand in the city center of Ramallah, in support of the prisoner Walid Daqqa, and the sick and hunger-striking prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons.


The participants in the vigil raised Palestinian flags and pictures of the prisoner Daqqa, and chanted patriotic slogans in support of him and all the prisoners, especially the sick and hunger-striking prisoners, rejecting the repressive Israeli occupation practices against the prisoners, and emphasizing their right to freedom.


The head of the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners Affairs, Qaddoura Fares, said that the vigil represents a message of fulfillment to the Palestinian prisoners in their concerns and aspirations, and an expression of rejection of brutality and fascism, which is manifested in its worst forms in the policies, procedures and statements of the occupation leaders who are taking revenge on all of us through the prisoner Walid Daqqa and the rest of the sick prisoners.


Fares added that the stand is also an expression of support for the steady struggle led by the administrative prisoners in the face of the racist administrative detention law, as well as an appeal to the Palestinian people that today we need unity of action and increased participation in all activities supporting the struggle of the prisoners.


And Fares indicated that the prisoner’s condition is deteriorating continuously in light of the continued policy of medical neglect against him, and because he is in a place that is not suitable for housing sick cases, noting that doctors have warned of the possibility of contamination or infection with a virus due to his weak immunity, and that his continued presence in a contaminated place “is like putting him in a mouth of death."


Sana Daqqa, the wife of prisoner Walid, expressed her and his family's appreciation for the efforts of all the participants in the vigil, noting that the prisoners are in dire need of these support vigils.


She added that the prisoner, Daqqa, suffers from a complex health condition, and that he needs to be free in order to be able to receive permanent treatment, noting that there is a lot to do for him and that he is now in a race against time, as his health condition is very sensitive and needs special medical attention.


She indicated that an appeal was submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court against the Central Court's refusal to release her captive husband, Walid Daqqa, pointing out that expectations from her are not high, but it is "a door they can only knock" in the hope of his release, stressing the necessity of continuing advocacy activities for her husband until his liberation.


The prisoner, Daqqa, was admitted to the hospital, on the 23rd of last March, after his health condition deteriorated sharply, after he was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a rare cancer of the bone marrow, on the 18th of December 2022, which developed from leukemia that was diagnosed. Nearly ten years ago, he was left without serious treatment.


On April 27, the occupation prison administration allowed the prisoner’s wife, Daqqa, and his daughter, Milad, to visit him in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, after he underwent an operation to remove part of his right lung, on April 12. And that after procrastination that lasted more than two weeks.


The prisoner Daqqa is one of the most prominent prisoners in the occupation prisons, and he contributed to many paths in the detention life of the prisoners, and during his long career in detention he produced many books, studies and articles and contributed cognitively to understanding the prison experience and its resistance, and among the most prominent publications of the prisoner Daqqa: “Parallel Time”, “Diaries of the Resistance in the Jenin Camp,” “The Melting of Consciousness,” “The Tale of the Secret of Oil,” and, more recently, “The Tale of the Secret of the Sword.”

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 7:10 pm - Jerusalem Time

A provocative march of settlers in the Old City of Jerusalem

Dozens of settlers organized, this Saturday evening, a provocative march in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.


Under the protection of the occupation soldiers, the settlers roamed the streets of Old Jerusalem, reaching the Al-Buraq Wall, chanting racist slogans and performing Talmudic rituals in the markets of the Old City, specifically in Al-Wad Street and Al-Qattaneen Market.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 7:06 pm - Jerusalem Time

Egypt arrests an Israeli at the Taba crossing

The Hebrew Channel 12 reported, on Saturday evening, that the Egyptian authorities had arrested an Israeli last Thursday at the Taba border crossing.


According to the Hebrew channel, the detainee is a resident of Holon, south of Tel Aviv, and he was arrested after several bullets were found in his possession.


The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it is following up his case and working for his release.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 7:01 pm - Jerusalem Time

Settlers attack the town of Qusra, south of Nablus

Dozens of settlers attacked, this Saturday evening, the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, in the northern West Bank.


According to local sources, dozens of settlers from the "Yesh Kodesh" outpost built on the citizens' lands attacked the southeastern area of the town, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, amid heavy shooting.


The same sources added that the townspeople confronted the settlers, which led to clashes in the area.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 6:46 pm - Jerusalem Time

5 injured in a shooting in Kafr Kanna

Today, Saturday, 5 people were injured, two of them seriously, after they were subjected to a shooting in the town of Kafr Kanna.


In Kafr Kanna, the injured, members of one family, were shot by masked men while they were in the yard of a house, according to local sources.


According to Magen David Adom, the condition of a 55-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman was described as serious, while the condition of a 17-year-old man was described as moderate, and two other injured were light.


Medical staff provided initial treatment to the injured, and then they were quickly transferred to Buria Hospital and the English Hospital in Nazareth for treatment.


The number of murder victims committed in the Arab community since the beginning of this year until now has reached 148, which is an unprecedented record.


Murder crimes in Arab society have become commonplace over the past years, in light of the police’s failure to play its role in eliminating organized crime, amid indications of the complicity of the Israeli security services with criminal organizations.


This comes amidst the criminals' feeling of impunity, noting that most of the crimes are related to work in usury and the black market, and settling scores between criminal gangs.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 5:57 pm - Jerusalem Time

Two injured in two stabbing crimes in Al-Zarazir and Qalansuwa

Two people were injured today, Saturday, in two separate stabbing crimes committed in the towns of Al-Zarazir and Qalansuwa in the 48 territories.


In Al-Zarazir, a 38-year-old man sustained moderate injuries as a result of a stabbing crime at a gas station. He was transferred to Rambam Hospital in Haifa to complete treatment.


In Qalansawa, a 35-year-old man was wounded, described as moderate, after he was stabbed in the town. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 3:25 pm - Jerusalem Time

The Prisoners Club holds the occupation fully responsible for the fate of Anwar Abdel Ghani

The Palestinian Prisoners Club held the occupation authorities fully responsible for the fate of the wounded detainee, Anwar Issam Abdel-Ghani (21 years old) from the town of Sidon / Tulkarm, who was shot by the occupation army, during a raid on his family’s home, at dawn last Wednesday 8/23/2023.


The Prisoners Club stated that the wounded Abdul-Ghani suffered a (serious) injury in the (thighs), and according to the available information, he underwent surgery and is still undergoing treatment in the Israeli Rambam Hospital.


In this context, the Prisoners Club pointed out that the occupation forces, in addition to escalating arrest campaigns and intensifying crimes against detainees and their families, have also escalated the arrest of the wounded, whether those who were shot and arrested later, or those who were injured during their arrest.


It is noteworthy that the occupation has escalated, during the past few days, more than 120 detainees, which have prolonged since Tuesday.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 1:37 pm - Jerusalem Time

Increased security on Ayman Odeh after his statements against criminal organizations

The security of the Israeli Knesset decided to increase the security of a member of the Arab List, Ayman Odeh, after his statements against the organizations that lead criminal operations among the Palestinians of the occupied territories.


According to the Hebrew website Ynet, Odeh's life is in danger after these statements.


PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 1:01 pm - Jerusalem Time

Fatah Council asserts on popular resistance, PLO rearrangement and ending division

The Fatah Movement's Revolutionary Council affirmed, on Saturday, the continuation of the escalation of popular resistance in all locations and the formation of popular resistance committees to confront the settlers.


In a closing statement of its eleventh session, the Council called on all factions to give this file the utmost importance and to engage in popular resistance action.


And he decided to continue the national dialogue with “Fatah” partners in the PLO, activate and develop its departments and frameworks in all fields, give sufficient attention to the Palestinians in the diaspora camps, especially the camps in Lebanon and Ain al-Hilweh in particular, and confront attempts to target the movement and the PLO, and work to rebuild the camps in Syria, and confront the Israeli targeting of the West Bank camps, attempts to dry up UNRWA's funding sources, and the continuation of work with expatriates in the world.


The Council, in its statement,  also decided to continue the dialogue with those outside the Palestine Liberation Organization on the aforementioned basis, with the aim of ending the division and its disastrous consequences for the entire national project.


He stressed that Jerusalem is the essence of the Palestinian national project and the eternal capital, and there is no peace, security or stability without the consecration and independence of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, as an Arab, Islamic and Christian city.


He stressed that there is no state in Gaza or a state without Gaza, and that the return of Gaza to the political system and geographical unity will remain a priority for the "Fatah" movement.


The Revolutionary Council decided to keep the work of its current session in a permanent state to follow up on the field and political situation.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 11:55 am - Jerusalem Time

A "five-year plan" to deepen settlement expansion in Jerusalem

The National Office for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements said that the so-called "five-year plan for the development of East Jerusalem for the years 2024-2028", which was approved by the Israeli government last Sunday, aims to serve the efforts of Judaization and Israeliization and deepening settlement in East Jerusalem.


This plan was accompanied by the Israeli Minister of Jerusalem and Traditions, Meir Porush, at a value of three billion two hundred million shekels, in addition to a budget of half a billion shekels for the project of the so-called "Holy Basin" for Judaization and settlement strengthening in Old Jerusalem.


This five-year plan is the result of work that lasted a year and a half, in which teams from the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs, the Jerusalem Municipality, the "Governmental Company for the Development of East Jerusalem" and the right-wing and extremist "Jerusalem Institute for Policy Studies" participated.


The occupation government had discussed that plan in previous meetings, specifically in the meeting it held in tunnels under the Al-Buraq Wall yard last May on the occasion of the occupation of East Jerusalem and the so-called 56th anniversary of the "unification of Jerusalem". It took a number of decisions to finance large-scale settlement projects and settlement associations in Occupied Jerusalem, while the five-year plan was approved "within a principled framework", it was not without many reservations made by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Settlement in the Ministry of Defense Bezalel Smotrich and the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and other ministers of a government that is the most extremist and racist in the history of the occupying state.


Porush claimed that the plan aims to reduce the social and economic disparities between the two parts of the city, describing it as responding to about twenty issues that require urgent attention, especially with regard to education and infrastructure, claiming that his government invests in the Arab population because it is the most humane thing.


As for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he claimed that he would not forget Jerusalem, the capital, even for a single minute, and affirmed his government's commitment to helping all its residents, noting that the sums that will be employed in civil services in the east of the city are the largest in history.


The new plan came to replace a previous five-year plan that expires at the end of this year, and its budget was reduced twice, from 4 to 2.1 billion shekels. One of its most prominent results was the deepening of the differences between East and West Jerusalem instead of reducing them.


When the draft plan was circulated to the ministries before it was presented to the government meeting and its news was leaked, it was met with a protest from a number of ministries that were not aware of the existence of the plan in the first place, and claimed that the plan would lead to a reduction in their budgets without prior coordination.


Indeed, the plan will depend on its financing on the contribution of a number of ministries and on the contribution of the occupation municipality in Jerusalem, distributed by about 2.450 billion shekels from the ministries’ budgets, and about 750 million shekels from the Jerusalem municipality, the innovation authority, the electricity company, and others.


This clearly means that the approved budget is not fixed and is subject to considerations related to the work of those ministries and the work of the municipality, which is what actually happened with the previous five-year plan, whose ceiling decreased by half in the context of the years of its operation.


What is noteworthy here is the contribution of the occupation municipality throughout the years of the plan. The occupation municipality approved its annual budget for the year 2023 with a value of 8.42 billion shekels. Assuming that the municipality’s budget will remain the same for the next five years, which is an illogical assumption, the total of these budgets will range Between 42 billion and 45 billion shekels, of which about 750 million shekels were allocated to East Jerusalem, according to the plan, in partnership with the Innovations Authority, the Electricity Company, and others, which is a meager and absurd number just like the meager and absurd number that the plan singled out for the health sector, at a time when the Palestinians make up about 35% of the population In the city and they pay according to official data 30% of the value of taxes collected by the occupation municipality, the municipality does not spend on the services provided to them only 8% of the total services provided by the municipality to the public.


According to the government’s decision, the five-year plan includes investments in various sectors, including the education sector, at a value of 800 shekels, whose main function is the Israelization and Judaization of educational curricula, the employment sector in economic development, at a value of 506 million shekels, to integrate Palestinians into the Israeli labor market, and the infrastructure sector, at a value of 833 million shekels, for urban integration between the two parts of the city in order to enhance settlement encroachment, the legal planning sector and the design of public buildings at a value of 132 million shekels to complete the theft and looting of lands and register them as absent property or in the names of Jewish owners and settlement associations, and the resident services sector at a value of 900 million shekels to expand community control over the Jerusalemites, in addition to control Security through increasing the number of police and municipal inspectors, adding surveillance cameras, and establishing other police stations in occupied Jerusalem.


As for the commitment of the Israeli government in this plan to build 2,000 apartments for the Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem annually, it is an old and false commitment by all standards, especially taking into account the previous five-year plan and the non-stop policy of demolishing Palestinian homes and facilities.


Not only that, but the so-called plan for the development of East Jerusalem neglected what is more dangerous in the context of the policy of Judaization, Israelization and silent displacement, through the expansion of settlement activities as a parallel plan, as the first half of this year recorded records in terms of the number of settlement units that were promoted It has, in the last stage of the process of approving the construction of settlement projects, by building 12,855 settlement units in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, of which 7,082 new settlement units.


Beyond that, the Israeli government approved the allocation of 230 million shekels to complete the American road, or what is known as the eastern ring road in occupied East Jerusalem, as part of the transportation projects included in the five-year plan, and withheld from public opinion that this road robs hundreds of dunams of the lands of Al-Eizariya and Al-Sawahra. , Abu Dis, Al-Tur, Sheikh Saad, Jabal Al-Mukaber, and Sur Baher, and it is designed to connect the Israeli settlements in the south of the city with the "Ma'ale Adumim" settlement east of Jerusalem and has nothing to do with the development of East Jerusalem or the service of the Palestinian citizens of the city.


In addition, it was revealed that the Israeli company "Donna" won the tender for building a new settlement project in the "Benoy" complex in the south, opposite Deir Crimzan, between Al-Walaja and Beit Jala, as part of a more comprehensive project to expand settlement in southern Jerusalem. The company said that the towers will be built from 18 to 22 floors, in addition to a commercial and service complex, playgrounds and gardens.


The urban planner, Engineer Arit Guttenberg, said that she has been working for two years with the board of directors of the "Ramat Shlomo" settlement in order to develop and expand the western area of the settlement, and that an understanding and agreement has been reached with the Special Committee for Building and Settlement Development in the District Committee to add about 134 settlement units in the foothills of Shuafat. In a manner commensurate with the topographical nature of the elevated area along the bypass road 443 Jerusalem, where intensive construction is taking place in this settlement, whose population now exceeds 30,000 settlers.


The plans of Judaization and Israelization and the deepening of settlement in East Jerusalem go hand in hand with vast and unprecedented settlement plans in the rest of the West Bank governorates, as settler leaders, especially in the northern West Bank, see in the current Israeli government their precious opportunity, prompted by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Settlement in the Ministry of Defense in Bezalel Smotrich and the Settlement Council (Yesha). The settler leaders of the so-called "Samaria Settlement Council" led by Yossi Dagan, one of the hardened fascist and neo-Nazi settlers, implemented a plan to increase the number of settlers in the northern West Bank from about 170,000 to about one million settlers.


For this purpose, they agreed in their annual conference about a year ago to crystallize a plan based on the return to the settlements vacated by former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank, and its circle expands to include the governorates of Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, and Salfit, as a field vital to an unprecedented settlement expansion.


The regional council entrusted the task of planning this project to engineers and professional consultants with specialization in urban engineering, who worked for a whole year to complete the plan that Dagan carried to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for approval in the plans of his extreme right-wing government.


This plan is based on the return to the settlements of "Homesh", "Ghanim", "Sanor" and "Kadeem" in the Jenin governorate, and the expansion of the "Itamar" settlements in the Nablus governorate, and "Tzufim" in the Qalqilya governorate, and "Saleit" and " Avnei Hefetz" in the Tulkarm governorate, as well as the construction of two new settlements similar to "Modi'in" in the extension of Kafr Qassem towards Salfit. The occupying power, along with hospitals, medical and cultural centers to serve the new settlements.


At the same time, Minister Smotrich is preparing a plan to legalize 155 random settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, using his control over the Ministry of Finance and Civil Administration to implement his plan. The Smotrich plan maps all of the "illegal" Israeli outposts in the West Bank to facilitate the eventual legalization of all of them.


Smotrich began his plan with about 14 illegal settlement outposts, five of which are classified as pastoral settlements, which are, in fact, outposts that house terrorist settlers in the first place, based on the displacement of a number of Bedouin communities such as Ain Samia, Al-Qaboun, Al-Marj, Al-Baqaa, and Ras Al-Tin.


The Smotrich plan currently focuses on outposts in the northern and central West Bank, before moving to the Hebron areas (Masafer Yatta), and the Jordan Valley, where the Palestinian Badia is. The plan includes allocating hundreds of millions of shekels to finance the outposts, in addition to building access roads and connecting them to electricity and water networks. .


Smotrich's plan meets with opposition from levels in the occupation army and the Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet), which demanded the formation of a joint team of the concerned government ministries to examine the issue and its possible repercussions.


In the same way that the legalization of unauthorized outposts is circumvented according to the occupation law, the occupation government intends to announce the legalization of two new settlements in the Jerusalem wilderness, namely “Nofei Furat” and “Alon”, and the allocation of hundreds of millions of shekels for them, and the two settlements are currently receiving funding From the "Kfar Adumim" settlement under the pretext that they are from its neighborhoods and thus granting it a new separate infrastructure, in addition to service projects such as kindergartens, clinics and schools.


The government coalition is pushing for a decision that allows for the actual recognition of settlements that do not have an independent official status, and even a direct transfer of budgets to these settlements, and this approach has already been approved by the Israeli Ministry of Justice, and it will be presented for approval by the occupation government in the coming weeks. However, the "Novi Firat" and "Alon" settlements, which are officially considered part of the "Kfar Adumim" settlement, can directly obtain government budgets because they are already operating as independent settlements. Yuval as neighborhoods of the "Eli" settlement between the cities of Nablus and Ramallah.


In light of the anxiety among the settlers, prompting them to demonstrate and seek help and protection from the occupying state, after a series of attacks carried out by Palestinian resistance fighters in recent weeks, Yoav Gallant, the Minister of the Occupation Army, held a meeting with the heads of settlement councils in the West Bank, in which Yehuda Fox, Commander of the Central Region (West Bank), participated. ), after an assessment of the security situation conducted by Gallant with senior officials in his ministry, in which he criticized attacks by settlers on army officers.


In that meeting, the Minister of the Army assured the settler leaders, "It is forbidden to attack the officers, and if you find criticism, attack me," explaining, "I do not mean you, but the Knesset members who attack the army, including members of my (Likud) party."


In that meeting, Gallant expressed the commitment of the occupation army to support settlements, enhance security, improve infrastructure, and secure movement on the streets and roads used by settlers.


In the context, it was recently revealed that a secret meeting was held last February, with the participation of representatives of the Israeli army, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, the National Security Council and other parties, about the protests opposing the judicial amendments led by the Israeli government and the role of the Israeli Supreme Court in providing cover and legal protection for the occupation. Settlement and war crimes against the Palestinians.


The conferees stressed that passing the judicial amendments would weaken its role as an independent and powerful court, and quoted a senior security official who participated in those deliberations as saying, “The Supreme Court in Israel enjoys a prestigious international status, and if loyal judges are appointed, its status will be damaged as a protective shield.” In this case, the workers building the apartheid wall and the soldiers and army officers working in the occupied territories will risk being charged with war crimes in the International Criminal Court under international law.

OPINIONS

Sat 26 Aug 2023 10:18 am - Jerusalem Time

op-ed: Palestinian unity is more urgent than ever

Jerusalem Hadith

Jerusalem Hadith

Opinion Writer

The so-called Israeli Minister of Security, Yoav Gallant, held a meeting with the heads of the settlements and pledged to provide all the necessary support and assistance to enhance their steadfastness and the survival of their settlements. The Minister of Finance, Smotrich, pledged to provide 700 million shekels for the annexation and Judaization schemes in the West Bank. Likewise, the godfather of settlement in Jerusalem is the Israeli Minister of National Security. Itamar Ben Gvir supports an extremist who leads an extremist party as well, to win the upcoming municipal elections, Arben King,  all of them are talking about Jerusalem, Judaizing it, deepening the Jewish presence in it, and reducing the Palestinian national presence whenever possible.


This Ben Gvir had made racist statements, during which he claimed that his right to movement and mobility in the West Bank is more important than the right to freedom of movement of the Palestinians, and that his right to life is more important than the right of the Palestinians as well.


These racist statements are just examples of what Israeli leaders think, and they are constantly repeated in words and deeds. These racist statements received wide and denouncing reactions on social media. Among the celebrities who denounced them, the famous supermodel Bella Hadid, who has an estimated 60 million followers. On Facebook (it should be noted that this Hadid family fled Nazareth during the 1948 Nakba and the establishment of the State of Israel).


On the other hand, President Abu Mazen said during his presidency of the eleventh session of the Fatah Revolutionary Council that the national authority will not allow the passage of occupation plans that aim to perpetuate this unjust occupation.
The reality is that this occupation only understands the language of force and effective real deterrence, and the repeated statements and declarations that have expired, are no longer of any influence or interest to this expansionist occupation, which has never stopped exercising its greed by confiscating the land and displacing its owners and children.


These occupation practices require, first and foremost, the restoration of Palestinian national unity and an end to this unjust and destructive division of the national position. The occupation knows this very well, and that is why it no longer cares about words and statements and is keen to deepen the division whenever possible. This is what our leaders must think about and work to end this tragic and destructive stage of division and to fragment the national situation and make it weak and unable only to repeat statements and declarations.

OPINIONS

Sat 26 Aug 2023 10:17 am - Jerusalem Time

op-ed: Palestine and the "BRICS" Summit

Marwan Emile Tobasi

Marwan Emile Tobasi

Opinion Writer

Despite the importance of the Middle East region, including the issue of our conflict with the occupation, we are not the center of the universe today in the face of the rapid developments taking place in different regions of the world. It leads to new regional variables and alliances led by Russia and China within the framework of building a new multipolar international order. This includes the ongoing attempts in the region in which we live, which may succeed and develop in the face of Biden’s failure following his previous visit to our region, its repercussions, and the failure of US policies, which are still trying to revive their alliances in different regions, the most important of which is the East Asia and Pacific region to confront China alongside the Eurasia region and what is going on in it of a proxy war in Ukraine against Russia and the East, in addition to what is happening in the African continent.

The United States was unable to achieve what was hoped for as a result of the so-called Arab Spring. It failed to give its ally "Israel" any new impetus in the region other than to maintain its protection and patronage. It was unable to resolve matters in Syria, Iraq and Yemen according to its plans, and it did not stop its negotiations with Iran on the nuclear file. Rather, it reached a prisoner exchange deal with it and released frozen assets for Iran, and this may be a prelude to other deals on the horizon to create a role for local players in the existing equations. Nor did it declare war on Iran, neither politically nor through military maneuvers. Likewise, it did not succeed in gifting Israel an "Arab NATO under its leadership" in the face of Tehran to serve the goal of Israeli supremacy.

 

In my opinion, the United States will not succeed in concluding a Saudi-Israeli normalization that goes beyond the general framework of the Arab initiative, international resolutions, and the demands of Saudi Arabia itself, in addition to the presence of religious Zionist obstacles and the opposition of a number of members of Congress from the Democratic Party due to various considerations in front of concluding that deal that is being talked about by Israel, in the service of saving Netanyahu’s position .

The region is full of variables, and the repercussions of the beginning of the end of unipolarity and American hegemony have become evident in the positions of the countries of the region following the war that the West has fabricated in Ukraine to confront Russian and Chinese expansion. And the Arab countries do not want to confine themselves to the polar basket of the United States, which is crumbling, after some of them got used to that in the past. Today, they are looking forward to close relations with China and Russia on the one hand, and with Iran on the other hand as a neighboring country, while maintaining non-hostile relations with the United States.

A number of Arab countries were accepted today during the BRICS summit, which is being held in South Africa, and there are others who wish to join later. Groups such as BRICS or Shanghai Economic will turn into political entities in a new geopolitical reality, with financial transactions far from the dominance of the dollar. Where the BRICS countries constitute about a little less than half of the world's area and population. Also, the accession of the new countries constitutes a qualitative development, which has its repercussions, especially in the Middle East, and on the issue of the petro-dollar, with the accession of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and perhaps Algeria later.

A number of Third World countries, in general, aspire to join these groups and contribute to consolidating the ability of the South to confront and change the prevailing world order, which has been dominated by Western mechanisms and rules since after World War II. This is what prevented these countries from achieving development, and did not help the growth of the countries of the South, which accuse the countries of the North of double standards and the practice of contemporary forms of colonialism and the control and theft of wealth. This is something that work to get rid of today, has become a feature of a number of African countries, such as Niger and others, led by young patriotic officers.

It is the same approach that prevailed in the Latin continent previously and led to the success of the new or radical left parties in reaching the reins of power and succeeding in repelling American trends.

In Europe, the coming winter will be stormy for the governments of the European Union, in which the right wing has risen to power. And those who stand in support of Israel's policies, i.e., the countries of the European Union, pay the price for their subordination and being drawn into American policies. The European peoples, whose popular and progressive forces are in solidarity with the causes and struggle of our people, will not bear the repercussions of the sanctions imposed on Russia and China. Which did not achieve its goals, and the European peoples will take to the streets of their capitals, if not before next winter, as has been the case for some time in a number of European Union countries, in confrontation with the political, economic and social policies of their neoliberal governments. Which is currently leading to an increase in poverty, the high cost of living and unemployment, due to its military involvement in Ukraine, which is draining its resources.

In America, the crisis of the economic system is exacerbated by the inflation of the dollar, banking crises, unemployment, poverty, and social crises that are represented by the increase in crimes and manifestations of white supremacy, and the widening of the multiple ethnic differences in those societies. Which is now threatening the stability of the political system itself there, especially after the problems of the previous elections and the course of Trump’s trial now, and the results of the US Congressional elections, and the results of the upcoming presidential elections soon, in front of the decline in the popularity of Biden and his Democratic Party. Which may contribute to encouraging the European populist right in the event that the Republican conservatives win, especially their candidate De Santas, who belongs to the Zionist movement.

 

On the other hand, the crisis that has existed for years regarding the recurrence of elections in Israel and the rift taking place in them today, opens the doors to multiple possibilities, from the fall of the current Netanyahu government, or to its amendment with the entry of Gantz, or to a form of civil war and other possibilities between them that will not be Easy to solve. Rather, the crisis of the system's structural and political identity will deepen, to be reflected in its social and economic stability. Which may produce competing entities within the framework of what they seek according to the biblical and Zionist faith, and international criticism regarding apartheid policies will increase even from non-Zionist Jewish organizations around the world. This will plunge the Zionist movement, which today is experiencing paradoxes between the liberal and the religious, and the East and the West, into a crisis of variables related to the alleged "moral, civilized and democratic" face of Israel, which it has always claimed. And the impact of the decline of American hegemony and the unilateral polarity of the West, the main supporter of Israel. His policies still revolve in the orbit of joint Israeli, American and European cooperation, despite their verbal stances on settlements, which did not rise to the level of accountability and sanctions, as it was a dust in the eyes, and gave an indirect green light for the continuation of this and the actual sustainability of the colonial occupation.

This settler occupation state will therefore try to export its internal crises towards more repression against our people and settlement and Judaization projects according to its vision, and its implementation in escalating forms, from state terrorism to create a state of religious Zionist national consensus on that, in addition to resorting to the scarecrow of the Persian enemy.

Where the new plan of the occupation government includes intensifying construction in the settlements and turning them into cities, and building new cities to accommodate a million new settlers during the coming years.

Faced with these facts, the coming days will come with more clarifications about the repercussions of those changes and transformations taking place on us and on the world. This is if it does not lead to new wars, especially in our region, despite the decline in the Israeli deterrence capabilities in the face of the development of the capabilities of other parties, and the problems facing the occupation army and its security institution in light of the circumstances of the current division and the position of religious people regarding conscription.

The current international changes are perhaps the most important since the Second World War. While NATO will continue to insist on continuing to consider it a tool of American and Western hegemony, Russia, China and other BRICS countries will invest in expanding their membership and economic, political and even military cooperation, as the total output of their countries exceeds that of the Group of Seven. The importance of launching the new development bank of the BRICS group in the hope of developing reforms in the international financial system and breaking the monopoly and hegemony of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which worked to impoverish many countries around the world, lies in creating a sustainable international balance in the face of Western hegemony and towards a new system to achieve justice and equality that people await. , including our Palestinian people in front of the inability of the UN Security Council to solve international problems.

It is likely that the result of this ongoing conflict, despite its difficulties, will constitute the features of the coming future of humanity, including the future of the cause of our Palestinian people within the framework of the current geopolitical positions in which we must improve our position.



OPINIONS

Sat 26 Aug 2023 10:16 am - Jerusalem Time

op-ed: Motives for revoking the powers of the Supreme Court

Hamada Paraohs

Hamada Paraohs

Opinion Writer

Netanyahu seeks to abolish the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court, to achieve two goals: the first is to serve himself with the aim of ending the case of the criminal charges on which he is being tried, and expunging them, as if they did not exist, and the second is in response to the demands of the government coalition parties: 1- the extreme right-wing, and 2- the religious and extremist Jews, and for this he seeks to cancel the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court. But what are the goals of the right-wing and religious parties, and their strict adherence to canceling the powers of the Supreme Court?.


The pursuit of politically and religiously extremist parties is due to two fundamental reasons:


First - Approving the recommendations of the Central Elections Commission, regarding the non-acceptance of the candidacy of the Palestinian Arab parties 1- The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, 2- The Islamic Movement, 3- The National Democratic Assembly, 4- The Arab Movement for Change. Whereas the Central Elections Committee is traditionally composed of representatives of the participating parties in Parliament, that is, it is formed periodically every four years from all the parties that succeeded in the previous session, to decide on the nomination of the parties or their representatives in the subsequent session, and because it is composed of politically right-wing and Jewish religious parties, they mostly vote against the participation of Arab parties in Parliament, and object to their representatives, under the pretext of their support for terrorism, extremism, or hostility to "Israel".


The Arab parties resort to the Supreme Court after the Elections Commission has rejected their candidacy, and the court often takes a decision against the Elections Commission, and supports the recommendation of the nomination of the Palestinian Arab parties for membership in the Israeli parliament, and for this reason the extreme right-wing parties and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious parties seek to cancel the powers of the Supreme Court for this reason. The court stands objectively with the right of Arab parties and representatives to run for membership in the Israeli Knesset.


Second - The Israeli Supreme Court upholds the grievances of the Palestinians, the people of the West Bank and Jerusalem, whose private lands registered in their names are being seized and confiscated by settlers, so they turn to the court that upholds their grievances, and rejects the colonial settlers' collective seizure of the private lands of the Palestinians, and rejects their unilateral initiatives to seize Palestinian lands. , without prior government decisions, and therefore the Israeli court often takes decisions against colonial settler initiatives to seize Palestinian homes and lands without prior official government decisions.


For these and other reasons, the government coalition that resulted from the elections for the Knesset No. 25 on 1/11/2022 is working to change the powers of the Supreme Court, with the aim of achieving two main purposes:


The first: Preventing the candidacy and participation of Arab parties and their Palestinian deputies who are running for membership in Parliament, as these most likely constitute a preponderance and a title of support for the parties of the center and the left in Parliament in the face of the right-wing and religious parties who constitute the parliamentary voting majority, in the face of the centrist and left parties (according to Israeli values and concepts, figuratively). ), and thus the Arab representatives form a state of completion in providing and finding a balance between the two conflicting parties over the issues of Israeli society: 1- The centrist and leftist parties in confrontation, 2- The right-wing and religious parties.


The second: to prevent all legal procedures issued by the Israeli Supreme Court, which prevent colonial settlers from seizing private Palestinian lands and homes.


It is clear that this approach to abolish the powers of the Supreme Court aims to achieve two steps in one blow. The first is directed against the Palestinians of Areas 48, and the second is directed at the Palestinians of Areas 67.

OPINIONS

Sat 26 Aug 2023 10:15 am - Jerusalem Time

op-ed: Netanyahu.. stop and think

Wassef Erekat

Wassef Erekat

Opinion Writer

There has been much talk about the emergency Israeli "cabinet" meeting that was held two days ago; To discuss "ways to respond to the recent wave of operations." Especially the Hawara and Hebron operations, and there were many leaks about the discussions that took place and the decisions taken by the conferees, most notably the mandate to address the field situation by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Minister of War Galant. Immediately, the Israeli media and analysts directed by the security and intelligence services dealt with the forms of military plans and possible scenarios with the intent of misleading and distracting efforts, as evidenced by Netanyahu reprimanding the officials in the cabinet for their many leaks of the details of the meetings, noting that the members of the council themselves do not know the real details, which only Netanyahu and Gallant know about, as they were authorized to act.


Regardless of the debates and quarrels that took place in the meeting, especially between Minister of War Galant and Minister of Security Ben Gvir, the decision to attack the directors of the attacks and the appropriate timing for that was taken, and how to implement it rests with Netanyahu and Galant. What will they do? They have more than planned and implemented aggressive tactical and strategic scenarios and plans in recent years, such as raids, invasions, arrests, field executions, collective punishment, displacement of residents, and house demolitions. They failed, by their own admission, to stop the growing resistance in the West Bank. Rather, the resistance increased in strength, developed, and spread.


What will they do more than what their ancestors did 75 years ago, when their occupation, during the Nakba period in 1948, took control of 774 Palestinian villages and cities, and 531 of them were completely destroyed, and what remains was subjected to the occupation entity and its laws. This purification process was accompanied by the commission of  zionist gangs carried out more than 51 massacres against the Palestinians, which led to the death of more than 15,000 Palestinians. Continuous of bloodshed, detention centers and prisons were filled, the people were made homeless, and more than that, they are persecuted in exile, and the wounds deepened, but the Palestinian quickly gathered his body parts, bandaged his wounds, and set his sights on one goal: Resisting the occupation, no matter how high the prices and sacrifices, and its eternal decision was announced publicly. Since that date, Israel has not stopped consolidating its occupation with military force and committing crimes and massacres. It has implemented and continues to implement aggressive plans and scenarios to no avail. On the other hand, the Palestinian people stand firm on their land and resist with their modest capabilities, relying on their will and determination, and courage while the number of his martyrs exceeded one hundred thousand.


The question is: What if Netanyahu and his Minister of War Gallant (who is currently in the United States of America to collect donations for the army as they claim?! And who is forbidden by Prime Minister Netanyahu from meeting his American counterpart or any other American official) carried out their threats and implemented all aggressive scenarios in order to prevent the occurrence of commando operations. Then these operations continued despite all of that ?


Military expert and analyst

OPINIONS

Sat 26 Aug 2023 10:14 am - Jerusalem Time

op-ed: A new revolution: Netanyahu is not fighting ghosts

Bakr Abu Bakr

Bakr Abu Bakr

Opinion Writer

The Israeli newspapers and the media were abuzz about the proliferation of Palestinian military operations recently in the month of 8 of the year 2023 AD, which are unprecedented operations that come against the Israeli occupation represented by the criminal colonial gangs and the army inside the West Bank.


In the context of these operations, the commander of the Central Command in the Israeli aggression army, General "Yehuda Fox", acknowledged the failure of the army to confront the (recent) Palestinian operations in Hawara and Hebron, and said in a statement that: "For a long time we did not know such a wave of terrorism, this week We did not succeed in thwarting it," he said.


The recent escalating operations were the beginning of their emergence and launch from the city of Jenin since the year 2021, and most of their military operations came from new field Palestinian youth groups, or from individuals who have no direct connection with factions, even if some of them - and some of them remained - belonged to the "Fatah" movement "Jihad" or "Hamas" or "popular front" or other historical factions.


And the "Black's Den" group in Nablus (fedayeen belonging to the Fatah movement or the Jihad movement... mainly), or the Jenin battalion (similar to its counterpart in Nablus), or the Tulkarm battalion and the Bethlehem battalion, or the Jericho battalion, or in Hebron are only examples of solo armed Palestinian commando action, or linked partially or without a direct organizational link to the major factions that are engaged in a sterile debate that does not end, mostly over the division of spoils and power. These new armed Palestinian groups also have no real connection to the active revolutionary frameworks emanating from the factions, especially the "Fatah" movement, in the field of peaceful popular struggle in the West Bank.


Mahdi Abu Ghazaleh, the former leader of the (Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) in Nablus, had indicated in the year 2021 that the escalation of the occupation and its fierce attack against Palestine and the Palestinians, and the political adoption of this by successive Israeli governments, is a sufficient reason to make the young generation belong under the wing of any resistance faction. Although he and many other analysts believe that the groups on the ground operate individually and not as factions, he clearly stated that "repeated attacks, especially by settlers, will create a state of linkage or coordination between the different factions," which seems to have begun to materialize in the year 2023. It appeared with the escalation of the Palestinian armed revolution operations in the West Bank, north and south, which necessitated a great Israeli political, security and military mobilization.


In his commentary on the Hawara-Nablus operation and then the Hebron operation on Monday 8/21/2023 , the Israeli Prime Minister "Benjamin Netanyahu" preferred, as usual, to turn his back on the truth and deny the existence of the Palestinian people, their steadfastness, and the right to their homeland and state, and denied their dignity and their constant and continuous revolution in all forms for their occupation And against the practices of his army and colonial gangs.
Netanyahu, in his response to the operations, did not see the Palestinian people anywhere "in the sun", and assumed that this mighty people would be an invisible ghost until it was lit up by the fingers of others, and through terror it became visible!


"Netanyahu" said: "Israel is in the midst of a terrorist attack encouraged and financed by Iran and its proxies.!?" He added that "offensive and defensive means are used to settle scores with the killers and also with their senders," as he put it.


Yoav Gallant, the Israeli Minister of Defense, following Netanyahu's approach, denied the existence of the Palestinians and their right to refuse to occupy their land. He said, "The attack is directed by Iran, which is looking for every means to harm Israeli citizens... We will reach out to the terrorists and take additional measures... All options are on the table." On the table".


"Netanyahu" (and his Minister of War and his government), who does not see that the Palestinians as a people deserve to be mentioned except linked to terrorism, denies the reality of the Israeli terrorist killing that overthrew more than 200 Palestinians in the West Bank until this month, including the direct killing practiced by the colonialists, and they only had to flee with cynical faces And laughing at the responsibility as usual.


"Netanyahu" sees in his army's killing of the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip or in the West Bank only an achievement of the policy (killing, then more killing) within the "Smotrich" plan that is actually implemented to get rid of the Palestinians. Therefore, the settlers generously participate with the army by "paying the price" for the Palestinians.
The colonialists (settlers), under the strict protection of the "Netanyahu" government, are not satisfied with breaking cars, burning trees, burning houses and mosques, stealing sheep and olives, not only stealing and occupying land, nor expelling or beating Palestinians, but rather they practice direct, subsidized and paid killing in front of the army's joyful eyes at what you see! As is the joy of "Netanyahu" and his government to get rid of any member of the Palestinian people.
And here is the latest example of the series of killings by colonial gangs: Qusay Jamal Maatan (19 years old) was martyred on (4/8/2023 AD) as a result of being shot by terrorist settlers who attacked the village of Barqa, east of Ramallah, of course accompanied by burning operations that they still practice as they did in Jerusalem and in Huwwara-Nablus and Turmusaya-Ramallah and other villages. This is a terrorist operation that drew international, even American condemnation, but there is no life for "Netanyahu" and his government, or whoever calls them. The fate of the well-known killers was the space of freedom.
This is not new, as the citizen Ali Harb was killed in the village of Iskaka, east of Salfit Governorate, in June 2022. Likewise, the colonial terrorists killed the martyr Mithqal Rayan, in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, west of Salfit, while he and the people of his steadfast town confronted an attack by settlers from the outpost on the side. north of the town.
In all cases, let the killers be free! Is it any wonder that the Palestinian reaction, especially from the ardent youth (ghosts), is revolution, uprising and resistance! And what might follow in terms of a massive uprising or a new revolution that achieves the interdependence of individual and semi-organized groups in one decade.
Why the escalation of operations against the Israeli presence in the West Bank is a question that "Netanyahu" and his minister of war and his minister of what is called national security and their government do not want to answer except by denying the real reasons represented by the occupation of the land, and by playing behind the truth and beyond the greatness of the Palestinian Arab people who have been rooted in this land since eternity And since drawing the shape of the bridge and Natufian civilization, then the Palestinian civilization from 20 thousand years ago, and what followed it until today.
Let us sum up by saying: The occupation of the land of Palestine is the first and last cause of violence and terror coming from the army, and from the colonialists supported by the army, who practice terrorism as a picnic under the protection of the army. We have always written and pointed out that the criminal behavior of the government, the aggression of the army, and the practices of the terrorist colonial gangs are the first reason that paves the way for a massive intifada or a new revolution in Palestine.
We repeat to those who want to hear that the existence of the occupation as the occupation of the land in itself is the reason for igniting the launch of the Palestinian revolution in 1965 AD, and it is the same as the reason for all the uprisings and movements, and it will be the reason for the launch of the new revolution, or the next uprising, which has emerged individually or semi-organized since the year 2021 and is geographically or dispersed Structurally not continuous, then with the continuation of the killing policy, more Israeli killing, the groups or cells will become organized and then incendiary.
If the leadership of the political organizations, headed by "Fatah" and "Hamas" and others, cannot understand well that they are at the mercy of the new revolutionary generation, then they may find themselves within the remnants of the Palestinian revolution. And if she is well aware of her role, she will be able to seize control of the impending historical moment, both internally and externally.
The new uprising or revolution of the ghosts may take its violent or non-violent form, and it will often depart from the methods of the existing political organizations - if the leadership of these organizations does not understand their required role - if they are able to organize their ranks, and set a strong, realistic and reasonable political goal, and accordingly they will propose their correct methods of struggle in terms of Absolute trust in the masses and their primary role in the revolutionary struggle, because without them, i.e. the masses, there is no hope for communication and no ability to achieve victory.
And let me say in conclusion that the loss of hope in the political goal of a solution on the one hand, due to the policy of killing and more current Israeli killing, and the loss of hope in the old Palestinian leadership component that is unable to change the existing reality, the reality of occupation and division, represents a great fuel for the embers of the new revolution that may overthrow the stable It creates or matures a burning generation that realizes that its role has not yet begun, but rather is on the threshold of a new beginning.

OPINIONS

Sat 26 Aug 2023 10:13 am - Jerusalem Time

op-ed: Saudi Arabia in BRICS... another big leap

Hamdi Farrag

Hamdi Farrag

Opinion Writer

Another broad leap taken by Saudi Arabia towards a bright and promising Arab future is its announcement to join the "BRICS" group, which is a young alliance that is no more than fifteen years old. : Brasilia, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a camouflage designation that does not have any political, military, security, economic, social or historical cultural connotations or goals, and in fact, it is all of this and more, as it includes China and India with about three billion people In eastern Asia, Russia is a descendant of the Soviet Union distributed between the continents of Europe and Asia, a nuclear military power that is the first in the world, Brazil promising socialism in the entire Latin continent, then South Africa liberated from its hateful racial regime at the hands of its symbol Nelson Mandela from prison to power, and from power to BRIC, where it joined later, and the first letter of its name was added to it, and with it it became BRICS instead of BRIC.


In the last periodic meeting No. 15 held in South Africa, the leaders of the five countries appeared, as they had not appeared before, as if they began to reveal some of their secrets. They clearly declared that they were not a trade group. It was useful to send trade or economy ministers to attend the meeting. They clearly announced their targeting for the dollar, to deal with each other in their local currencies, as a precursor to issuing a unified currency in their name, with which they can exchange their five currencies. This targeting of the dollar does not target the nation that exports it, America, but rather the countries that deal with it. They clearly announced the targeting of its uniqueness by ruling the world, with iron and fire, the Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and that they are here to break this criminal capitalist taboo and confront the measures and sanctions imposed by America against other countries. The veto, which we Palestinians had 44 times out of 86 American vetoes. In other words, they are tantamount to declaring a revolution against this status quo.


The accession of six new and weighty countries, including Iran, Argentina, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, comes to make the group’s image more and more clear as a real alliance that enjoys what neither America nor Europe enjoys, demographically, geographically, militarily, economically, and most importantly, morally. So that the poor peoples of the world recover some of what was stolen by this wild West, and still is, by military colonialism at times, and at times economic.. Even we Arabs, "we have a share in the camel" as the popular proverb says, we now have someone to represent us in a manner worthy of our nation in a forum worthy of realizing some of our aspirations, with some legitimate fear that Israel will not join the forum.

OPINIONS

Sat 26 Aug 2023 10:12 am - Jerusalem Time

op-ed: Is the defect in the curricula or in the educational system?

Walid Al-Hodali

Walid Al-Hodali

Opinion Writer

Have our schools succeeded in producing the Palestinian person who is able to face the challenges??


A question that I think is very important, when schools receive our children for twelve years, will they succeed in producing the Palestinian person who is able to face the challenges?


Who puts his hand on the wound and guides us? Where is the problem? in Curriculum or in education system? Or it is the philosophy of education? Or the goals of education? Is there a problem in working on the motives of behavior while we work in the behavioral manifestations?


The conversation is long and it has become axiomatic to say: about the importance of knowledge, its demand, respect for the teacher and the success of the educational process. It is clear that focusing on the importance of the subject is something we master, but how do we reach the behavioral values in our lives?? Yes, our problem is how? Did we succeed in reaching our goals, and did the methods and means that we used succeed in getting us to these goals? Then in the philosophy of education, do we have our own philosophy that carries our civilized identity, or is it a mixture between the Western and the Eastern, so we have not mastered the Western, nor have we preserved the Eastern?


For example: (The value of democracy as a behavioral value that Western schools succeeded in producing and became a practical practice in their lives, in the school, home and institution... Have we, for example, succeeded in producing value or ethics as a practical application and as a behavioral product in our lives?? The answer is clear: No or not as it should be. .. Beautiful, for example: Why didn't we produce our morals as behavioral values in our lives?


Why do we learn? To produce morals and behavioral values? Or do we produce a person with a lot of information? Or a citizen committed to the laws and regulations of the state and the needs of the capitalist market, or the creation of a human being capable of forming a family and having children capable of meeting their subsistence needs and living in peace and well-being far from his cause and the concern of his general people, or a free human being engaged with the occupier, who was beset by the scourge of the occupation in a devastating way for all of his psychological and life components, and he able to face it par excellence?


An essential question, if he worked on it well, it would produce a lot: How do you teach values and morals in our schools? Are the inputs commensurate with the required outputs, which are more urgent today than before?


The values of freedom, human dignity, and the realization of self-fulfillment that is capable of confrontation, challenge, steadfastness, in light of an occupation that wants to uproot us from our roots, erase our cultural and civilizational identity, and deform in us all the components of a personality that is capable of self-realization and victory.


For example, many of those who get good material opportunities that require emigration from the country do not think about it for one second. Why does he so easily abandon his bond, steadfastness and continuity with his people, who are engaged in the occupation?


I believe, according to the existing outputs of our schools and their educational curricula, that we have undoubtedly achieved many successes in the reality of science, education, but we have also failed a lot in producing a person who challenges and achieves victory. The current occupation continued to want to wipe our people off the geographical, historical and political map. Of course, I do not deny this absolutely, but in general it is like this. There are systematic attempts that seek to divert the Palestinian person from being able to do what is required of him according to the challenges he faces in his life. For example, there are UNRWA schools and the imposition of non-partisanship on the educational process. The teacher should not take sides with Palestine and its cause and should remain neutral. I know that the majority of our teachers reject this matter, but in the end we do not produce a person for the cause, so to speak, in the sense of a person who belongs to his cause and has the willingness to sacrifice for it.


We must sound the alarm and work hard to bring about the required change in our curricula and schools according to a well-defined educational philosophy, to determine first, what are the determinants and features of the Palestinian personality and what we are required to produce, in accordance with these challenges, especially with the existence of this unprecedented Israeli extremism, especially in our schools in Jerusalem.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 10:00 am - Jerusalem Time

The occupation forces closed the entrances to the town of Dura in Hebron

Today, Saturday, the Israeli occupation forces closed the entrances to the town of Dura, south of Hebron.


According to local sources, the occupation forces seized the surveillance cameras recordings from the citizens' homes near the military tower located at Kharsa Triangle, southwest of Hebron, under the pretext that it had been shot.


The same sources added that the occupation forces, with military reinforcements, closed the entrances to the town of Dura, and carried out extensive raids and searches.

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 8:54 am - Jerusalem Time

The ordeal of a mother in Jenin Refugee Camp

With indignation, anger, and oppression, the mother, Ibtisam al-Kastouni, cried, "God is the greatest. One is a martyr, the second is through investigation and torture, and the third is in administrative detention. Who stayed with me.. Oh, Lord, have mercy." When she received the news that her son, Hani, had been transferred to administrative detention, while she receives mourners for the martyrdom of her son, Mustafa, who was executed by the occupation forces at the same time that Hani was arrested in the city center of Jenin on the seventeenth of this month.


In the middle of the funeral home for the martyr in Jenin, Umm Ali sat crying and said, "They left no one for me. They took all my life, my soul, and my children.. May God take revenge on them. How do I want to live my life alone.. Hani was not wanted. They arrested him once a while ago, and his rule ended, and he returned to us." I was so happy and relieved for my reunion with my children.”


She added, "On the day of his arrest, he was near our house at the gate of the Old City in the center of Jenin, when suddenly the special units that stormed the area surrounded him with Palestinian civilian cars, and they directed their bullets at him and threatened to kill him if he moved, and they pounced on him like monsters and arrested him, and beat Hani and his friend who was with him."  My son Mustafa witnessed the crime and the torture of his brother from the window of our house overlooking the street, so he clashed with the special units and shot them, and within minutes, military reinforcements stormed the city, surrounded our house and the old town, then stormed him amid heavy gunfire and executed him.


During the operation, the occupation forces completely destroyed the house of the al-Kastouni family and left them homeless, and his mother says, "It was not enough for the soldiers to execute my son. They threw a bomb without taking into account my presence with my daughter-in-law and four grandchildren, and demolished the house and turned it into ruins. I became homeless and lost my children, home, and life."


And she added, "My third son has been detained for some time and is still in the cellars of the investigation, and so I said goodbye to Mustafa in the absence of his three brothers, and I remained on my nerves waiting to know the fate of Hani."


Since his arrest, and despite the tragedy, Umm Ali has been communicating with the prisoners’ rights institutions to follow up on Han’s file, and her shock was great with the administrative detention decision, and she said, “This is unparalleled injustice, punishment, and revenge. There is no one in the world who needs children around him like me, but the occupation destroyed my life, one in the grave, the second is in the investigation slaughterhouse, and the third is being burnt by the fires of administrative detention in the Negev, so what injustice is greater than this?, And which legality and law permit these crimes? I demand the world to release my children and lift the injustice against me.. Isn't it enough to demolish my house and execute my son?

PALESTINE

Sat 26 Aug 2023 8:47 am - Jerusalem Time

The occupation targets the families and relatives of the wanted

More than half of his life, the forty-year-old Mutassim al-Rakh, spent working in Israel in various professions, obtaining a permit whenever its validity expires without obstacles, as he was not arrested throughout his life, but everything changed, and last Monday he turned into a prisoner, after the occupation forces arrested him at a military checkpoint near Ramallah, and immediately transferred him to the investigation center in Huwwara prison, and within less than 24 hours, Maqeed became a hostage of administrative detention.

With sadness and pain, his wife, Umm Ahmed, from the Jenin camp, told Al-Quds.com, "My husband did not interfere in politics throughout his life and did not belong to any party, but he was arrested as part of the pressure, punishment and revenge on our family, since two of my brothers are wanted."

With amazement and astonishment, she wonders about how and why her husband was targeted, even though he is not in Jenin except during the weekend, Friday and Saturday. As she explains, he works and lives in his workplace in a factory in Haifa, and for more than a year he has not met her brothers, whose news is cut off for him.

The occupation intelligence continues to target the families of those it calls wanted, and exerts pressure and penalties against their families and anyone who has a relationship with them to isolate them and strike their popular incubator. However, the picture is different in the Jenin camp, as a broad and strong popular base has developed around the resistance, especially since the last battle on the third of July, which the people considered an epic and another episode in confrontation and victory over the occupation, which sent more than a thousand soldiers from its selected units that were unable to achieve their goals.



As for the Mu'tasim family, the Israeli security service has included the names of two of his wife's brothers in the wanted lists in the camp, which are expanding and increasing daily with the repetition of operations and the escalation of the tone of threats to the settler government.

Umm Ahmed said in her interview with Al-Quds.com, "We do not know how our children become wanted and targeted. My first brother, Nour, spent years in their prisons, was freed, married, built a family and became a father. Then they arrested him and wounded him, and he miraculously escaped death. After returning to his family, he became wanted." She adds, "He spent more time in prison than he lived while he was free, and his life is threatened, and we do not know the reason."

And she continues: "My second brother, the youngest, was arrested and served his sentence for 4 years, and we were almost happy with his freedom, until they stormed our house in search of him, and when they did not find him, they threatened us to liquidate him if he did not turn himself in immediately."

And she continues, "We live on our nerves amidst a state of tension and anger. Within hours of my husband's arrest, they transferred him to administrative detention. What crime and punishment is worse than that? He is the only breadwinner for our family of 6 persons."

As for the worker, Majed Fathi Ziyad, from the Jenin camp, he found himself arrested during his return from his work at the Al-Jalama checkpoint, and spent a month under interrogation, and said: “Every day at the checkpoint as normal, and suddenly, after the battle of the camp, they arrested me and interrogated me for 20 days on behalf of one of my friends, accusing me of providing a hiding place to him ” being a resistant.
He added, "They threatened to revoke my permit, arrest me, and destroy my house if I contacted him, even a small contact. They want to break the strength of the youth of the camp, who taught them a lesson they will never forget."