Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Israeli forces kill Palestinian boy, 14, in West Bank: Ministry

The Palestinian health ministry says Mohammed Shehadeh was killed by Israeli forces’ gunfire in Al-Khader area near Bethlehem.

B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said it had recorded 77 Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces in the West Bank last year 
[File: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/Reuters]

Published On 22 Feb 2022

Israeli forces killed a teenage Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

“Mohammed Shehadeh, 14, was killed by Israeli forces’ gunfire in Al-Khader,” in the Bethlehem area, a ministry statement said, urging an international investigation.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency quoted local activist Ahmad Salah as saying that Israeli soldiers opened live fire injuring Shehadeh before detaining him and that soldiers prevented ambulances from reaching him.

Israel’s army confirmed in a statement the death of a Palestinian, whom it said was among three suspects who “hurled Molotov cocktails at passing drivers, endangering their lives”.

Troops were “conducting counterterrorism activity” in the Al-Khader area where numerous civilian vehicles had been targeted by the incendiary devices during the past month, the army said.

“The troops operated to stop them, firing at one of the suspects that hurled a Molotov cocktail toward passing vehicles. The suspect was hit,” it said.

Troops provided first aid but the suspect died, it added.

The killing comes days after another teen, 19-year-old Nehad Amin Barghouti, was killed and shot by Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Nabi Saleh.

Palestinian and international rights groups have long condemned what they see as a policy of shoot to kill and excessive use of force.

B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said it had recorded 77 Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces in the West Bank last year. More than half of those killed were not implicated in any attacks, it added.

Earlier this month, Amnesty International said in a new report that Israel was carrying out “the crime of apartheid against Palestinians” and must be held accountable for treating them as “an inferior racial group”.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war.

Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land are considered illegal under international law. Today, between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers live in at least 250 illegal settlements in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Israeli settlers chop off olive trees, harass herders in Salfit


Israeli settlers enjoy attacking Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank 
(File photo)


SALFIT, Sunday, February 20, 2022 (WAFA) – Hardline Israeli settlers today uprooted or chopped off nearly 15 olive saplings and harassed Palestinian sheep herders in the occupied West Bank province of Salfit, according to local sources.

Witnesses told WAFA that settlers uprooted and chopped off nearly 15 olive saplings in the village of Yasuf after they sneaked into a ranch owned by Ziad Abdelrazeq, a local Palestinian citizen.

Meantime, settlers accompanied by an army force harassed and assaulted Palestinian sheep herders near the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan in the province. No injuries were reported.

Although violence and vandalism by Israeli settlers are commonplace throughout the year, attacks and acts of vandalism by Israeli settlers intensified during the past three months across the occupied West Bank, especially in the north of the territory.

Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli occupation authorities.

There are over 650,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law and consensus.

M.N


UN calls on Israel to stop Palestinian home evictions

Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah have complained of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers

News Service February 19, 2022

File photo

The United Nations has called on the Israeli authorities to stop the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a UN delegation met with a Palestinian family ordered by Israeli authorities to evacuate the home they lived in for 70 years in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

"We are following up closely the situation in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah and the possibility of evicting Palestinians from their homes," Dujarric said.

"It is very important to de-escalate the tension and maintain self-control and tranquility. We continuously ask the Israeli authorities to put an end to the policy of demolishing Palestinian homes and stop evicting Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and anywhere else in the West Bank."

The Palestinian family facing eviction, which includes six children and an elderly woman, is one of 218 Palestinian families, comprising 970 individuals, who live in the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, including Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.

The UN spokesperson said "under international humanitarian law, the occupying power is prohibited from forcibly deporting protected persons, regardless of the motive behind such deportation."

Dujarric called on the Israeli authorities to "adopt the necessary steps to protect civilians, including Palestinian refugees."

Since Thursday, Israeli forces have closed the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood with iron barriers and dispersed dozens of Palestinians taking part in rallies to protest the setting up of a tent by right-wing Israeli lawmaker Ben Gvir on private Palestinian land in the neighborhood as his office.

Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah have complained of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers, who reside next to them in homes taken from Palestinians over past years.

Last year, tensions ran high in the neighborhood after an Israeli court ordered the eviction of several Palestinian families in favor of Israeli settlers.


* Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara



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