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OIC Summit on Palestine and Jerusalem in Jakarta, More Israeli Violations of Palestinian Rights

March 6, 2016 

 

A peaceful march of Palestinian women in Jerusalem attacked by Israeli occupation soldiers, March 6, 2016	IOF carries out repeated incursions into Iraq Burin village, March 6, 2016

 

OIC's summit on Palestine kicks off in Jakarta

March 6, 2016, JAKARTA, (PIC)--

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) extraordinary summit on Palestine and Jerusalem kicked off on Sunday in the Indonesian capital Jakarta with the participation of leaders and officials from around the world.

Convened under the theme "United for a Just Solution," the summit is a response to the urgent and persistent worrying situation in Palestine and Jerusalem, which affects not only the Palestinian people, but also the entire Muslim nation.

In addition to many important issues to be discussed on Palestine during the two-day summit, the conferees will explore methods and strategies to encounter the Israeli government's continuous illegal occupation and apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Change and Reform urges Jakarta Summit to speak up for al-Aqsa

GAZA, (PIC)--

The Change and Reform Bloc (CRB) of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) called Sunday the participants in the Islamic Summit in Jakarta to seriously stand up for Occupied Jerusalem and boost Palestinian resistance in the face of the Israeli occupation.

The CRB said in a press statement: “We call on the participants in Jakarta to prop up Palestinians’ legitimate resistance against the Israeli occupation and to opt for practical measures to protect the holy al-Aqsa Mosque and Occupied Jerusalem.”

The 5th Extraordinary Islamic Summit on Palestine and Occupied Jerusalem under the theme: “United for Just Solution” will be held in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on 6-7 March 2016. This comes against the backdrop of unprecedented Israeli violations in Occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank and of the unjust blockade on the Gaza Strip. 

Girl among 4 Palestinians arrested by IOF in Jerusalem

 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

Four Palestinian citizens, including a girl, were arrested on Sunday evening by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in Occupied Jerusalem, bringing the number of those arrested in the city since dawn time to nine.

Eye-witnesses said tension has burst out near Shu’fat refugee camp after the IOF arrested three Palestinian youngsters.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center also said the IOF arrested 17-year-old Jihan Tarweh in al-Tur neighborhood, to the east of Occupied Jerusalem, without identifying the reasons for the abduction.

The IOF further rolled into Silwan and cordoned off residential neighborhoods before they cracked down on Palestinian passers-by at makeshift roadblocks. 

Earlier in the day, the IOF arrested three Palestinians in Jabal al-Mukbir, to the southeast of Occupied Jerusalem, and a child in al-Issawiya, along with a Jerusalemite lady from the Old city. 

Jerusalemite woman arrested during a peaceful march

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

The Israeli police forces arrested Sunday afternoon the Jerusalemite woman Hanadi Halawani after suppressing a peaceful march near al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

A group of Jerusalemite women had earlier organized a peaceful march protesting against the Israeli continued ban on their access to the Mosque for more than five months.

Earlier on Sunday, hordes of Israeli fanatics stormed the holy al-Aqsa Mosque under heavy police escort and carried out provocative rituals, causing a state of tension in the compound.

Palestinian worshipers kept chanting “Allah is the Greatest” in protest at the assault. 

The occupied city of Jerusalem had earlier witnessed tight restrictions and traffic jams after Israeli police erected a number of military checkpoints throughout the city.

Hundreds of Jerusalemite citizens and students were stopped and searched at the checkpoints for long hours before heading to their workplaces and schools.

Joba checkpoint, to the north of the occupied city, was closed in both directions, preventing people’s movement.

Several Palestinian vehicles were also stopped and searched at Qalandia checkpoint, causing a severe traffic jam.

Since the beginning of the Jerusalem Intifada, Israel has increasingly restricted Palestinians' freedom of movement and implemented a policy of movement restrictions including checkpoints, earth mounds, trenches, gates, roadblocks, bypass roads, the Wall, and a complex system of permits.

Restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians have seriously affected their access to medical care, including emergency medical treatment. Dozens of deaths and stillbirths were reported as a result of preventing medical personnel and patients from crossing checkpoints.

IOF carries out repeated incursions into Iraq Burin village

 NABLUS, (PIC)--

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have been storming Iraq Burin village every night over the past few days under the pretext of searching for the perpetrators of the stabbing attack carried out in Har Brakha nearby settlement, which resulted in the death of two soldiers.

Iraq Burin is a small quiet village located on a towering rocky hill southwest of Nablus.

Har Brakha settlement is located to the east of Iraq Burin. A part of the settlement is set up on an area of 250 dunums of land which was of Iraq Burin lands.

The occupation army leaders believed that the perpetrators of the stabbing attack sought refuge to Iraq Burin village because the settlement and the attack site are near to the village.

“We will storm your village and your homes every night, until we get to the perpetrators of the stabbing attack, even if it lasted a whole year", an Israeli officer said threatening the chairman of the village council of Iraq Burin, Fathi Faqih.

Faqih told a PIC reporter that the IOF continues to carry out raids into the town houses every night. He estimated the homes that were stormed and searched to be about 95% of the homes in the village.

The raids are accompanied with interrogations of house owners on whether any of them had information that might lead the IOF to the perpetrators. The house owners are also warned of providing assistance or covering-up the perpetrators.

Under Siege
Immediately after the stabbing attack on Wednesday night, Iraq Burin was turned into a target for the occupation army, which imposed a tight siege on the village and closed the only entrance to the town with sand barriers, and set up a military checkpoint at the entrance to the town, preventing the entry and the exit in or out of it, and thus turned the village into what looks like a big prison.

The young men of the village removed on Friday morning the sand barriers from the entrance to the town, and reopened the road, challenging the occupation.

Faqih said that the occupation officer told him on storming his house, that they have information that the perpetrators had entered into the village after the attack, and did not leave yet.

On the front line
Iraq Burin's area is 5775 acres and is inhabited by 1,000 people, the majority of its population works in agriculture, and the village is famous for the cultivation of olives, figs and grapes.

Despite the abundance of agricultural land, 42% of the village land is located within the area (C), which is under full Israeli control according to the Oslo agreements. The occupation authority prohibits the farmers from cultivating and reclaiming these lands without permission, this caused the lands to become wastelands not suitable except for grazing.

In the past few years, the village has witnessed weekly clashes during marches organized by inhabitants of the village with the participation of foreign solidarity activists, towards Har Brakha settlement. These marches often result in injuries among the participants with bullets and tear gas fired by the Israeli occupation forces.

Faqih said that the settlers attack farmers if they get to the land near the settlement, and often call the Israeli army, which arrives in large numbers from Hawara and fires tear gas canisters on the citizens forcing them to leave their land.

Iraq Burin is one of relatively small villages of the governorate of Nablus, but the village has had a long history in confronting the Israeli occupation and settlers.

Since the beginning of al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, five of the village's inhabitants were killed by the IOF, among whom were the two members of Qassam Brigades: Mamoun Ibrahim Qadous and Annan Jabr Qadous, who were killed during an armed clash in 2002.

Settlers open settlement road east of Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, (PIC)--

Israeli settlers on Saturday opened a 1.5-kilometer-road on Palestinian land in Kisan village to the east of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.

The PIC reporter said that opening of the road, which was conducted under the protection of Israeli forces, aims at confiscating more Palestinian lands in order to connect two Jewish settlements.

Hussein Ghazal, head of Kisan’s village council, told the PIC reporter that the Jewish settler called Yusuf who opened the road had previously confiscated about 1000 dunums in 2014 under gun threat and the protection of Israeli soldiers.

He built three houses and a farm over that confiscated area, Ghazal added.   

IOF banned 28 Palestinians of travel last week

BETHLEHEM, (PIC)--

 Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) banned last week 28 Palestinians from travel via the Karama crossing connecting the West Bank to the outside world through Jordan. The IOF claimed that the travel ban orders were made for security reasons. 

The Palestinian police in Ramallah said, in a statement on Saturday, that 25,000 Palestinians used the Karama crossing for travel last week.  Israeli forces did not release the reasons behind the ban of entry orders, the Palestinian police statement pointed out. 

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