16 jan 2020
|
Israeli crop dusters flew along the perimeter fence separating Gaza and Israel on Tuesday and sprayed chemicals purported to be herbicides.
The spraying was conducted sporadically for about three and half hours, with the sprayed chemicals reaching Palestinian farmlands inside the Gaza Strip, mainly east of Gaza, North Gaza, and Deir al-Balah districts. Palestinian farmers who were working the land west of the perimeter fence on Tuesday morning, spoke to the human rights organizations about the incident. The farmers reported that at about 7:20 A.M. Tuesday morning, they saw plumes of black smoke emanating from Israel’s side of the fence — usually used as a means to discern wind direction. |
Several minutes later, crop dusters flew along the perimeter fence spraying chemicals believed to be herbicides, which were blown by the wind into the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli spraying activities, which lasted until 11:30 A.M., took place to the east of Gaza City and Beit Hanoun, and to the northeast of al-Bureij. The following morning, further spraying took place at the same locations, as well as in areas east of Deir al-Balah.
Today, human rights organizations Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza sent an urgent letter to Israel's Minister of Defense Naftali Bennett, Military Advocate General Sharon Afek, and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit with an urgent demand to refrain from conducting further aerial spraying of herbicides inside and near the Gaza Strip, due to the severe damage to crops and the health risks to Gaza residents.
Israel’s practice of conducting aerial herbicide spraying was first documented in 2014. The spraying is typically carried out without prior notification or warning to Palestinian farmers. Crop dusters fly at very low altitudes (as low as 20 meters) mostly over the Israeli side of the perimeter fence but have, on some occasions, reportedly flown over Palestinian territory.
Israel conducts the spraying when the wind is blowing westward, which carries the chemicals deep into Gaza. Herbicidal chemicals have reached distances as far as 1,200 meters into the Strip in previously documented incidents of spraying.
In the past, Israel has carried out the aerial spraying about twice a year, once in December/January, impacting winter crops, and then in April, impacting summer crops.
It is estimated that a total area of 7,620 dunams of arable land in the Gaza Strip has been affected by aerial spraying since 2014, when the first incident of this type was reported. Palestinian farmers have sustained widespread damage to their crops and incurred immense financial losses as a result, which drove some farmers to abandon cultivating fields near the perimeter fence due to the associated risks.
In 2019, the London-based research agency Forensic Architecture published an investigation into the practice. By utilizing satellite imagery and drift analysis to determine the extent of damages sustained inside the Gaza Strip, the investigation corroborated previous findings by Gisha, Adalah, and Al Mezan that Israel’s aerial spraying of herbicides has damaged lands and crops deep inside Gaza.
In 2016, responding to a request submitted by Gisha under the Freedom of Information Act, the Israeli Ministry of Defense disclosed that the chemical agents used in the spraying include glyphosate (“Roundup”), which had been declared a 'probable carcinogen’ by the World Health Organization and has been banned in many countries around the world.
In January 2019, Al Mezan, Adalah, and Gisha sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his role as defense minister, Military Advocate General Adv. Sharon Afek, and Attorney General Dr. Avichai Mandelblit, with an urgent demand to refrain from conducting further aerial spraying of herbicides inside and near the Gaza Strip, due to the severe damage to crops and the risk to the health of Gaza residents caused by the spraying.
No incidents of aerial spraying were documented in 2019.
Data collected on the impact of aerial herbicide spraying in the past five years strongly indicates that the spraying poses a potential threat to the right to life as it directly undermines food security and health of the civilian population in Gaza. Human rights organizations Gisha, Adalah and Al Mezan stress that such disproportionate action, with detrimental impact on livelihoods and the health of the civilian population, is unlawful under both Israeli and international law.
The organizations called on Israeli authorities to immediately cease all aerial spraying activities in and near the Gaza Strip and provide adequate reparation for those who have sustained financial losses as a result of the practice.
The Israeli spraying activities, which lasted until 11:30 A.M., took place to the east of Gaza City and Beit Hanoun, and to the northeast of al-Bureij. The following morning, further spraying took place at the same locations, as well as in areas east of Deir al-Balah.
Today, human rights organizations Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza sent an urgent letter to Israel's Minister of Defense Naftali Bennett, Military Advocate General Sharon Afek, and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit with an urgent demand to refrain from conducting further aerial spraying of herbicides inside and near the Gaza Strip, due to the severe damage to crops and the health risks to Gaza residents.
Israel’s practice of conducting aerial herbicide spraying was first documented in 2014. The spraying is typically carried out without prior notification or warning to Palestinian farmers. Crop dusters fly at very low altitudes (as low as 20 meters) mostly over the Israeli side of the perimeter fence but have, on some occasions, reportedly flown over Palestinian territory.
Israel conducts the spraying when the wind is blowing westward, which carries the chemicals deep into Gaza. Herbicidal chemicals have reached distances as far as 1,200 meters into the Strip in previously documented incidents of spraying.
In the past, Israel has carried out the aerial spraying about twice a year, once in December/January, impacting winter crops, and then in April, impacting summer crops.
It is estimated that a total area of 7,620 dunams of arable land in the Gaza Strip has been affected by aerial spraying since 2014, when the first incident of this type was reported. Palestinian farmers have sustained widespread damage to their crops and incurred immense financial losses as a result, which drove some farmers to abandon cultivating fields near the perimeter fence due to the associated risks.
In 2019, the London-based research agency Forensic Architecture published an investigation into the practice. By utilizing satellite imagery and drift analysis to determine the extent of damages sustained inside the Gaza Strip, the investigation corroborated previous findings by Gisha, Adalah, and Al Mezan that Israel’s aerial spraying of herbicides has damaged lands and crops deep inside Gaza.
In 2016, responding to a request submitted by Gisha under the Freedom of Information Act, the Israeli Ministry of Defense disclosed that the chemical agents used in the spraying include glyphosate (“Roundup”), which had been declared a 'probable carcinogen’ by the World Health Organization and has been banned in many countries around the world.
In January 2019, Al Mezan, Adalah, and Gisha sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his role as defense minister, Military Advocate General Adv. Sharon Afek, and Attorney General Dr. Avichai Mandelblit, with an urgent demand to refrain from conducting further aerial spraying of herbicides inside and near the Gaza Strip, due to the severe damage to crops and the risk to the health of Gaza residents caused by the spraying.
No incidents of aerial spraying were documented in 2019.
Data collected on the impact of aerial herbicide spraying in the past five years strongly indicates that the spraying poses a potential threat to the right to life as it directly undermines food security and health of the civilian population in Gaza. Human rights organizations Gisha, Adalah and Al Mezan stress that such disproportionate action, with detrimental impact on livelihoods and the health of the civilian population, is unlawful under both Israeli and international law.
The organizations called on Israeli authorities to immediately cease all aerial spraying activities in and near the Gaza Strip and provide adequate reparation for those who have sustained financial losses as a result of the practice.
Israeli bulldozers today morning razed two roads in the village of al-Walaja, located to the west of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.
WAFA correspondent said that Israeli forces stormed Ein Jowaize area in the village and cordoned it off, before bulldozers razed two roads.
Soldiers also handed a local resident, identified as Walid Mahmoud al-Atrash, an order, notifying him of the imminent destruction of his recently-reclaimed land, which occupies an area of 600 square meters.
Al-Atrash noted that soldiers plan to tear down the retaining walls surrounding his plot of land and uproot his saplings with no clear reason.
Located at a horizontal distance of 5 kilometers to the west of Bethlehem, al-Walaja has a population of some 2,800 and occupies a total area of 4,328 dunams.
Under the Oslo Accords, an agreement made 25 years ago that was supposed to last just five years towards a self-governing country alongside Israel, the Palestinian Authority was given ed control over a small pocket of land occupying 113 dunams and accounting for only 2.6 percent of the village’s total area.
This area is classified as Area B. In contrast, Israel maintains control over the remainder, classified as Area C.
An area of 4,209 dunams of the village, accounting for 97 percent, is completely isolated by the section of Israel’s apartheid wall. The majority of this land is agricultural land, forests and open spaces.
The village is flanked by two Israeli colonial settlements; Gilo from the east and Har Gilo from the south.
Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Israel refuses to permit virtually any Palestinian construction in Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.
In contrast, Israel much more easily gives the estimated 550,000 Jewish Israeli settlers there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.
WAFA correspondent said that Israeli forces stormed Ein Jowaize area in the village and cordoned it off, before bulldozers razed two roads.
Soldiers also handed a local resident, identified as Walid Mahmoud al-Atrash, an order, notifying him of the imminent destruction of his recently-reclaimed land, which occupies an area of 600 square meters.
Al-Atrash noted that soldiers plan to tear down the retaining walls surrounding his plot of land and uproot his saplings with no clear reason.
Located at a horizontal distance of 5 kilometers to the west of Bethlehem, al-Walaja has a population of some 2,800 and occupies a total area of 4,328 dunams.
Under the Oslo Accords, an agreement made 25 years ago that was supposed to last just five years towards a self-governing country alongside Israel, the Palestinian Authority was given ed control over a small pocket of land occupying 113 dunams and accounting for only 2.6 percent of the village’s total area.
This area is classified as Area B. In contrast, Israel maintains control over the remainder, classified as Area C.
An area of 4,209 dunams of the village, accounting for 97 percent, is completely isolated by the section of Israel’s apartheid wall. The majority of this land is agricultural land, forests and open spaces.
The village is flanked by two Israeli colonial settlements; Gilo from the east and Har Gilo from the south.
Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Israel refuses to permit virtually any Palestinian construction in Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.
In contrast, Israel much more easily gives the estimated 550,000 Jewish Israeli settlers there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.
Israeli warplanes Thursday overnight targeted at least two posts across the besieged Gaza Strip, according to WAFA correspondent.
He said that an Israeli drone bombed a post, located to the northwest of Gaza city, causing fires to break out in the post.
He added that Israeli F-16 fighter jets pounded the same post with two missiles, causing extensive material damage to the nearby civilian houses.
An additional strike was confirmed at a post in Jabalia town in the northern besieged enclave.
No human casualties were reported, however.
Israel claimed the attack in the war-battered strip came in retaliation to a rocket fire from the enclave.
Meanwhile, Israeli navy opened fire towards Palestinian fishermen and their fishing boats off shore al-Sudaniya area, northwest of the Gaza City. No injuries were reported though.
The attack rattled the shaky ceasefire brokered by Egypt and the United Nations that ended the flare-up triggered by the targeted assassination of Islamic Jihad leader in last November.
Fourteen years following the Israeli “disengagement” from Gaza, Israel has not actually disengaged from Gaza; it still maintains control of its land borders, access to the sea and airspace.
Two million Palestinians live the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a punishing and crippling Israeli blockade for 12 years and repeated onslaughts that have heavily damaged much of the enclave’s infrastructure.
Gaza’s 2-million population remains under “remote control” occupation and a strict siege, which has destroyed the local economy, strangled Palestinian livelihoods, plunged them into unprecedented rates of unemployment and poverty, and cut off from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and the wider world.
Gaza remains occupied territory, having no control over its borders, territorial waters or airspace. Meanwhile, Israel upholds very few of its responsibilities as the occupying power, failing to provide for the basic needs of Palestinian civilians living in the territory.
Every two in three Palestinians in Gaza is a refugee from lands inside what is now Israel. That government forbids them from exercising their right to return as enshrined in international law because they are not Jews.
He said that an Israeli drone bombed a post, located to the northwest of Gaza city, causing fires to break out in the post.
He added that Israeli F-16 fighter jets pounded the same post with two missiles, causing extensive material damage to the nearby civilian houses.
An additional strike was confirmed at a post in Jabalia town in the northern besieged enclave.
No human casualties were reported, however.
Israel claimed the attack in the war-battered strip came in retaliation to a rocket fire from the enclave.
Meanwhile, Israeli navy opened fire towards Palestinian fishermen and their fishing boats off shore al-Sudaniya area, northwest of the Gaza City. No injuries were reported though.
The attack rattled the shaky ceasefire brokered by Egypt and the United Nations that ended the flare-up triggered by the targeted assassination of Islamic Jihad leader in last November.
Fourteen years following the Israeli “disengagement” from Gaza, Israel has not actually disengaged from Gaza; it still maintains control of its land borders, access to the sea and airspace.
Two million Palestinians live the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a punishing and crippling Israeli blockade for 12 years and repeated onslaughts that have heavily damaged much of the enclave’s infrastructure.
Gaza’s 2-million population remains under “remote control” occupation and a strict siege, which has destroyed the local economy, strangled Palestinian livelihoods, plunged them into unprecedented rates of unemployment and poverty, and cut off from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and the wider world.
Gaza remains occupied territory, having no control over its borders, territorial waters or airspace. Meanwhile, Israel upholds very few of its responsibilities as the occupying power, failing to provide for the basic needs of Palestinian civilians living in the territory.
Every two in three Palestinians in Gaza is a refugee from lands inside what is now Israel. That government forbids them from exercising their right to return as enshrined in international law because they are not Jews.
15 jan 2020
The Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO) and the Jordanian National Electricity Company signed today in the Jordanian capital, Amman, an agreement to raise Palestine’s electricity supply capacity by bolstering the electrical connection between them that would allow an increase in the quantity of current exported to Palestine from 26 MW to 80 MW.
The agreement was signed in the presence of the Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Hala Zawati, the head of the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority, Thafer Melhem, the director general of the National Electricity Company, Amjad al-Rawashda, and the director general of JDECO, Hisham Omari.
Melhem told WAFA that there were many reasons that prompted the Palestinians to rely on the Arab countries to diversify Palestinian energy sources. He said that this project will raise the capacity of the electrical system in Palestine to 80 megawatts, expecting to complete the project within seven months.
Zawati stressed the importance of this step in strengthening cooperation between Jordan and Palestine, and within the framework of Jordan's aspiration to have electricity exchange for commercial reasons with neighboring Arab countries in a way that enhances the stability of the Jordanian electrical system and serves the aspiration for a common Arab market.
Rawashda said the agreement constitutes the second stage of the joint linkage between the two countries, stressing the importance of the project in achieving additional revenues for the National Electricity Company.
The Palestinians have been looking at neighboring Arab countries to diversify their energy resources in order to end their full reliance on Israel, which often uses this dependency to extort the Palestinians.
The agreement was signed in the presence of the Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Hala Zawati, the head of the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority, Thafer Melhem, the director general of the National Electricity Company, Amjad al-Rawashda, and the director general of JDECO, Hisham Omari.
Melhem told WAFA that there were many reasons that prompted the Palestinians to rely on the Arab countries to diversify Palestinian energy sources. He said that this project will raise the capacity of the electrical system in Palestine to 80 megawatts, expecting to complete the project within seven months.
Zawati stressed the importance of this step in strengthening cooperation between Jordan and Palestine, and within the framework of Jordan's aspiration to have electricity exchange for commercial reasons with neighboring Arab countries in a way that enhances the stability of the Jordanian electrical system and serves the aspiration for a common Arab market.
Rawashda said the agreement constitutes the second stage of the joint linkage between the two countries, stressing the importance of the project in achieving additional revenues for the National Electricity Company.
The Palestinians have been looking at neighboring Arab countries to diversify their energy resources in order to end their full reliance on Israel, which often uses this dependency to extort the Palestinians.
The Israeli military issued orders seizing hundreds of dunums of agricultural land in the towns of al-Khader and Irtas, south of the southern West Bank biblical city of Bethlehem, today said Hasan Breijieh, from the Commission for the Resistance of the Wall and Settlements.
He told WAFA that Israel issued a military order for the takeover of 350 dunums of farming land in these two towns for the purpose of expanding a settlements road in order to bypass the Palestinian towns and villages in that area.
He stressed that with the building of the new bypass road, more Palestinian agricultural land will also be inaccessible to their Palestinian landowners and farmers since the road will also take along with it 150 meters of land on its both sides.
He told WAFA that Israel issued a military order for the takeover of 350 dunums of farming land in these two towns for the purpose of expanding a settlements road in order to bypass the Palestinian towns and villages in that area.
He stressed that with the building of the new bypass road, more Palestinian agricultural land will also be inaccessible to their Palestinian landowners and farmers since the road will also take along with it 150 meters of land on its both sides.
Israeli settlers today flooded farmlands of the village of Jalboun, located to the east of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, with wastewater.
Mayor of Jalboun Nidal Abu al Rub told WAFA that settlers from neighboring illegal colonial settlements have been discharging their untreated sewage for several days through Israel’s segregation wall.
He added that the toxic stream of sewage that runs steadily have a devastating effect on the health and livelihood of Palestinians in the area, and urged human rights organizations to immediately intervene to bring this Israeli violation to an end.
The sewage submerging farmlands, and the rancid smell engulfing the area and mosquitoes swarming it often force farmers to desert their farmlands, which are subsequently seized for the expansion of Israeli colonial settlements.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
Settlers' violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
Over 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
Mayor of Jalboun Nidal Abu al Rub told WAFA that settlers from neighboring illegal colonial settlements have been discharging their untreated sewage for several days through Israel’s segregation wall.
He added that the toxic stream of sewage that runs steadily have a devastating effect on the health and livelihood of Palestinians in the area, and urged human rights organizations to immediately intervene to bring this Israeli violation to an end.
The sewage submerging farmlands, and the rancid smell engulfing the area and mosquitoes swarming it often force farmers to desert their farmlands, which are subsequently seized for the expansion of Israeli colonial settlements.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
Settlers' violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
Over 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
14 jan 2020
The Israeli army informed residents of Hamsa al-Tahta, in the northern Jordan Valley, of its intention to destroy residential structures, remove fences and uproot trees in their area, today said Aref Daraghme, a local rights activist.
He said the army claims the structures, fences and trees are located in an archeological area and therefore they will be removed.
Israel is trying to keep the occupied Jordan Valley off to its Palestinians inhabitants in an effort to later annex it without its Palestinian population, a step the Palestinian fear would kill any chance of reaching peace between them and Israel.
He said the army claims the structures, fences and trees are located in an archeological area and therefore they will be removed.
Israel is trying to keep the occupied Jordan Valley off to its Palestinians inhabitants in an effort to later annex it without its Palestinian population, a step the Palestinian fear would kill any chance of reaching peace between them and Israel.
An Israeli army bulldozer today demolished a blacksmith shop in the village of Hizma, to the northeast of Jerusalem, and seized it contents under the pretext it was built without license, reported WAFA correspondent.
He said that the army demolished the shop built of metal and brick after confiscating its equipment and tools.
He said that the army demolished the shop built of metal and brick after confiscating its equipment and tools.
13 jan 2020
Israeli forces today stopped work on a project to reclaim and rehabilitate lands and pave agricultural roads in the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, under the pretext that the area is classified as Area C, under full Israeli administrative and military control.
The project supervisor, Engineer Fajer 'Atawneh, told WAFA correspondent an Israeli military force stormed the area where the land is being reclaimed and forced project workers to stop working before seizing a heavy machinery that was working on the opening of two-kilometers of agricultural roads and the rehabilitation of 70 dunums of the village’s land.
He said that the roads were part of a project implemented by the Agricultural Development Society - Palestinian Agricultural Relief – for the rehabilitation of around 400 dunums of land and the construction of two km of agricultural roads.
The project aims at serving farmers and enhancing their resilience in areas most affected by the presence of the occupation in villages to the northeast of Jerusalem and in the village of al-Mughayyir.
Director of Land Development at the society, Muqbel Abu Jaish, called on all relevant governmental and human rights institutions to pressure the Israeli occupation to stop such violations against Palestinian residents' land, and halt all settlement activities and the seizure of land in accordance with international resolutions.
The project supervisor, Engineer Fajer 'Atawneh, told WAFA correspondent an Israeli military force stormed the area where the land is being reclaimed and forced project workers to stop working before seizing a heavy machinery that was working on the opening of two-kilometers of agricultural roads and the rehabilitation of 70 dunums of the village’s land.
He said that the roads were part of a project implemented by the Agricultural Development Society - Palestinian Agricultural Relief – for the rehabilitation of around 400 dunums of land and the construction of two km of agricultural roads.
The project aims at serving farmers and enhancing their resilience in areas most affected by the presence of the occupation in villages to the northeast of Jerusalem and in the village of al-Mughayyir.
Director of Land Development at the society, Muqbel Abu Jaish, called on all relevant governmental and human rights institutions to pressure the Israeli occupation to stop such violations against Palestinian residents' land, and halt all settlement activities and the seizure of land in accordance with international resolutions.
Israeli forces ransacked and dismantled stalls used to sell fruits and vegetables, on Sunday, near Wadi Al-Khalil checkpoint, in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron.
The stalls were ransacked, their contents destroyed, and the Palestinian owners warned by Israeli soldiers, to stay away from the area.
Estimated losses were valued at thousands of dollars, according to the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA).
In December 2019, Israeli Defense Minister, Naftali Bennett, approved a new settler neighborhood in the city of Hebron.
The stalls were ransacked, their contents destroyed, and the Palestinian owners warned by Israeli soldiers, to stay away from the area.
Estimated losses were valued at thousands of dollars, according to the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA).
In December 2019, Israeli Defense Minister, Naftali Bennett, approved a new settler neighborhood in the city of Hebron.
12 jan 2020
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday opened fire at Palestinian farmers and fishermen in the Gaza Strip with no reported casualties.
Local sources said that Israeli tanks in the morning opened fire at Palestinian farmers working in their lands east of Beit Lahia town, north of the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Israeli gunboats attacked fishermen sailing off the shore of northern Gaza.
No injuries were reported in the attacks.
Local sources said that Israeli tanks in the morning opened fire at Palestinian farmers working in their lands east of Beit Lahia town, north of the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Israeli gunboats attacked fishermen sailing off the shore of northern Gaza.
No injuries were reported in the attacks.