9 july 2017
Egyptian singer Hani Shaker has filed a complaint to the Egyptian Public Prosecutor, against the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, after Israel Police used his picture and a clip of one of his songs in its campaign to recruit Israeli-Arab residents.
Speaking to Quds Press, Shaker said that he was “surprised” by the campaign, adding that he immediately asked his lawyer in order to file a complaint against the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
He reiterated his opposition to the use of his art in the recruitment campaign by the Israeli police.
He said, according to the PNN: “This is theft of Arab art, and an Israeli assault on it,” he said. “It is a despicable attempt to falsify the Arab consciousness.”
The 55-year-old singer added, “This damages the reputation of Egyptian artists who support the Palestinians and their rights, including the rejection of all forms of normalisation with Israel and which call for return rights to their owners.”
Israeli police recently launched a campaign to encourage Arab-Israelis to join the force. Shaker’s music was included in the advert.
His lawyer told Quds Press that he has started the procedure of filing a complaint against Israel, stressing that Shaker opposes normalizing ties with Israel.
The lawyer accused the Israeli police of trying to reach the hearts of the Arab residents in Israel through their love for Shaker.
Speaking to Quds Press, Shaker said that he was “surprised” by the campaign, adding that he immediately asked his lawyer in order to file a complaint against the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
He reiterated his opposition to the use of his art in the recruitment campaign by the Israeli police.
He said, according to the PNN: “This is theft of Arab art, and an Israeli assault on it,” he said. “It is a despicable attempt to falsify the Arab consciousness.”
The 55-year-old singer added, “This damages the reputation of Egyptian artists who support the Palestinians and their rights, including the rejection of all forms of normalisation with Israel and which call for return rights to their owners.”
Israeli police recently launched a campaign to encourage Arab-Israelis to join the force. Shaker’s music was included in the advert.
His lawyer told Quds Press that he has started the procedure of filing a complaint against Israel, stressing that Shaker opposes normalizing ties with Israel.
The lawyer accused the Israeli police of trying to reach the hearts of the Arab residents in Israel through their love for Shaker.
28 june 2017
Palestinian Interior and National Security Ministry in Gaza has begun on Wednesday morning building a new buffer zone along the southern border with Egypt.
The 100m-wide "safe area", stretching 12 km along the border between the Palestinian blockaded coastal enclave and Egypt, is to be equipped with surveillance cameras and military posts, the ministry spokesman, Iyad al-Bezem, told the PIC reporter.
"The measures come in the context of the outcomes and understandings reached during the recent visit of a security delegation to Egypt,” Bezem added.
"We reassure the Egyptian side that Egypt's national security is Palestinian national security. We can't tolerate any threat to the stable security situation on the southern border," Bezem underlined.
The ministry's undersecretary Tawfiq Abu Naim said, "It will be a closed military area and therefore it will be easier to oversee the border and prevent smuggling of drugs and infiltrators".
Last month, a Hamas delegation visited Egypt for talks with Egyptian officials on increasing security measures on the border and opening the Rafah crossing.
The 100m-wide "safe area", stretching 12 km along the border between the Palestinian blockaded coastal enclave and Egypt, is to be equipped with surveillance cameras and military posts, the ministry spokesman, Iyad al-Bezem, told the PIC reporter.
"The measures come in the context of the outcomes and understandings reached during the recent visit of a security delegation to Egypt,” Bezem added.
"We reassure the Egyptian side that Egypt's national security is Palestinian national security. We can't tolerate any threat to the stable security situation on the southern border," Bezem underlined.
The ministry's undersecretary Tawfiq Abu Naim said, "It will be a closed military area and therefore it will be easier to oversee the border and prevent smuggling of drugs and infiltrators".
Last month, a Hamas delegation visited Egypt for talks with Egyptian officials on increasing security measures on the border and opening the Rafah crossing.
14 apr 2017
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has demanded Egypt to say the truth about its detention of four Palestinian citizens kidnapped about two years ago in the Sinai after they left the Gaza Strip as passengers through the Rafah border crossing.
On August 19, 2015, four Palestinian young men were taken away from a passenger bus by armed men after legally crossing from Gaza to Egypt.
The young men are Abdullah Abu al-Jebain, 23, from the Jabalia refugee camp; Abdul-Dayyam Abu Lebda, 26, from the al-Bureij refugee camp, Hussein al-Zebda, 29, a resident of Sheikh Radwan, and Yasser Zenoun, 26, a resident of Rafah city.
“Egyptian authorities should immediately disclose whether they are or were holding four Palestinian men from Gaza affiliated with Hamas whose whereabouts are unknown,” HRW told Egyptian interior minister Magdy Abdul-Ghaffar in a letter on Thursday.
“Based on media reports, including photographs purporting to show two of the men in a Cairo detention facility, the families believe they are in Egyptian custody. If true, their prolonged incommunicado detention, with Egyptian authorities denying knowledge of the detention or refusing to reveal their whereabouts, would constitute enforced disappearances,” HRW said in its letter to the Egyptian minister.
“Authorities should immediately charge the men if they suspect them of criminal activity, or otherwise release them,” the letter added.
“Twenty months without contact with the missing men inflicts incalculable anguish and suffering on their families and friends,” Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW Middle East director, said.
“Egyptian authorities should come clean and reveal whether these four disappeared Palestinian men from Gaza are in their custody,” she stressed.
The families of the kidnapped young men had told HRW that the men legally passed through the Rafah crossing on August 19, 2015, calling them from the Egyptian side of the crossing that evening, and later that night boarded a bus headed to Cairo International Airport via the Sinai Peninsula.
The families added that the men were planning to head for Turkey, al-Jebain and Abu Lebda to continue their studies and al-Zebda and Zenoun to receive medical care.
About 300 meters after the bus left Rafah, six armed men in civilian clothes fired on the bus and forcibly took custody of the four young men, other passengers on the bus told the families later. The families have not heard from the men since.
“Incommunicado detention violates basic protections for both civilians and fighters under Egypt’s code of criminal procedure, which requires authorities to bring criminal suspects in front of a prosecutor within 24 hours and prosecutors to charge the detainee based on evidence or release the person immediately. It also violates international law, which requires that all detainees, regardless of their particular status, be brought ‘promptly’ (i.e. within days) before a judicial officer or equivalent to review the legality and necessity of their detention,” the letter read.
“Detainees also have the right to humane treatment, communication with their families, access to counsel and the ability to challenge the basis for the detention, and visitation by the International Committee of the Red Cross,” it said further.
On August 19, 2015, four Palestinian young men were taken away from a passenger bus by armed men after legally crossing from Gaza to Egypt.
The young men are Abdullah Abu al-Jebain, 23, from the Jabalia refugee camp; Abdul-Dayyam Abu Lebda, 26, from the al-Bureij refugee camp, Hussein al-Zebda, 29, a resident of Sheikh Radwan, and Yasser Zenoun, 26, a resident of Rafah city.
“Egyptian authorities should immediately disclose whether they are or were holding four Palestinian men from Gaza affiliated with Hamas whose whereabouts are unknown,” HRW told Egyptian interior minister Magdy Abdul-Ghaffar in a letter on Thursday.
“Based on media reports, including photographs purporting to show two of the men in a Cairo detention facility, the families believe they are in Egyptian custody. If true, their prolonged incommunicado detention, with Egyptian authorities denying knowledge of the detention or refusing to reveal their whereabouts, would constitute enforced disappearances,” HRW said in its letter to the Egyptian minister.
“Authorities should immediately charge the men if they suspect them of criminal activity, or otherwise release them,” the letter added.
“Twenty months without contact with the missing men inflicts incalculable anguish and suffering on their families and friends,” Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW Middle East director, said.
“Egyptian authorities should come clean and reveal whether these four disappeared Palestinian men from Gaza are in their custody,” she stressed.
The families of the kidnapped young men had told HRW that the men legally passed through the Rafah crossing on August 19, 2015, calling them from the Egyptian side of the crossing that evening, and later that night boarded a bus headed to Cairo International Airport via the Sinai Peninsula.
The families added that the men were planning to head for Turkey, al-Jebain and Abu Lebda to continue their studies and al-Zebda and Zenoun to receive medical care.
About 300 meters after the bus left Rafah, six armed men in civilian clothes fired on the bus and forcibly took custody of the four young men, other passengers on the bus told the families later. The families have not heard from the men since.
“Incommunicado detention violates basic protections for both civilians and fighters under Egypt’s code of criminal procedure, which requires authorities to bring criminal suspects in front of a prosecutor within 24 hours and prosecutors to charge the detainee based on evidence or release the person immediately. It also violates international law, which requires that all detainees, regardless of their particular status, be brought ‘promptly’ (i.e. within days) before a judicial officer or equivalent to review the legality and necessity of their detention,” the letter read.
“Detainees also have the right to humane treatment, communication with their families, access to counsel and the ability to challenge the basis for the detention, and visitation by the International Committee of the Red Cross,” it said further.
10 apr 2017
A rocket fired from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, late Monday morning, landed in southern Israel, the Israeli army said.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an News Agency that a “projectile” hit a greenhouse in the Eshkol regional council, causing no injuries.
A police spokesman said that bomb disposal experts had searched the area and that police units were at the scene.
The rocket was fired shortly after the Israeli government announced that it was closing the Taba border crossing, between Israel and Egypt, over information warning of possible attacks targeting Israelis.
In February, two rockets launched from the Sinai Peninsula hit an open area in Eshkol, similarly causing no injuries.
Earlier this year, the Israeli government warned its citizens of possible “terrorist attacks” in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The Sinai Peninsula has been the site of ongoing violence between Egyptian forces and armed militant groups, which has increased since Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi took power from Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an News Agency that a “projectile” hit a greenhouse in the Eshkol regional council, causing no injuries.
A police spokesman said that bomb disposal experts had searched the area and that police units were at the scene.
The rocket was fired shortly after the Israeli government announced that it was closing the Taba border crossing, between Israel and Egypt, over information warning of possible attacks targeting Israelis.
In February, two rockets launched from the Sinai Peninsula hit an open area in Eshkol, similarly causing no injuries.
Earlier this year, the Israeli government warned its citizens of possible “terrorist attacks” in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The Sinai Peninsula has been the site of ongoing violence between Egyptian forces and armed militant groups, which has increased since Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi took power from Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013.
20 mar 2017
The Egyptian authorities on Monday opened the Rafah crossing to allow the entry of the bodies of dead Palestinians and their accompanying persons.
Head of Rafah media office, Wael Abu Muhssin, said the Egyptian authorities opened the border-crossing to allow the entry of the bodies of the Palestinian citizens: Saber Abu Laban and Farha Abu Khousa, who died in the Egyptian hospitals, and their three companions.
The Egyptian side of the crossing was re-locked right after the dead bodies and their accompanying persons reached the Palestinian side of the passageway.
The Egyptian authorities have kept the Rafah border crossing with Gaza closed since 2013 on a quasi-permanent basis.
At least 15,000 Palestinians, mostly students, sick civilians, and humanitarian cases, are in urgent need of travel via the Rafah crossing.
Head of Rafah media office, Wael Abu Muhssin, said the Egyptian authorities opened the border-crossing to allow the entry of the bodies of the Palestinian citizens: Saber Abu Laban and Farha Abu Khousa, who died in the Egyptian hospitals, and their three companions.
The Egyptian side of the crossing was re-locked right after the dead bodies and their accompanying persons reached the Palestinian side of the passageway.
The Egyptian authorities have kept the Rafah border crossing with Gaza closed since 2013 on a quasi-permanent basis.
At least 15,000 Palestinians, mostly students, sick civilians, and humanitarian cases, are in urgent need of travel via the Rafah crossing.
A Palestinian police officer died Sunday in Egyptian prisons amid mysterious circumstances, family sources revealed on Monday.
Khalil Dughmaj told Quds Press that his brother Wasim Dughmaj, 30, died on Sunday in Egyptian custody without revealing any further details.
He affirmed that his brother is a PA police officer who has been living in Cairo for more than ten years; however, he was arrested three days ago for unknown reasons.
The Egyptian authorities informed the family on Sunday of his death without giving any further details, he added.
Dughmaj pointed out that his brother’s body is expected to reach Gaza Strip via Rafah border crossing for burial.
Khalil Dughmaj told Quds Press that his brother Wasim Dughmaj, 30, died on Sunday in Egyptian custody without revealing any further details.
He affirmed that his brother is a PA police officer who has been living in Cairo for more than ten years; however, he was arrested three days ago for unknown reasons.
The Egyptian authorities informed the family on Sunday of his death without giving any further details, he added.
Dughmaj pointed out that his brother’s body is expected to reach Gaza Strip via Rafah border crossing for burial.
8 mar 2017
Political bureau member of Hamas, Mahmoud al-Zahhar, has stressed Hamas’s commitment to boost fraternal ties with Egypt, calling on the latter to release the four Palestinians kidnapped in Sinai.
Zahhar urged Egypt, in an interview with the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform parliamentary bloc's newspaper published Wednesday, to release the four Palestinians held captive in its territories, holding it responsible for their lives.
Zahhar, who has been recently elected as chairman of the Hamas parliamentary bloc, said efforts by his Movement's bloc will be exerted in the coming period to strengthen communication with Arab, Islamic, and international parliaments.
The Hamas leader stated that the sole enemy targeted by the Palestinian resistance is the Israeli occupation.
He also emphasized that Hamas will do whatever it takes to boost unity and cooperation in the blockaded Gaza Strip and the Palestinian society in general.
Zahhar urged Egypt, in an interview with the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform parliamentary bloc's newspaper published Wednesday, to release the four Palestinians held captive in its territories, holding it responsible for their lives.
Zahhar, who has been recently elected as chairman of the Hamas parliamentary bloc, said efforts by his Movement's bloc will be exerted in the coming period to strengthen communication with Arab, Islamic, and international parliaments.
The Hamas leader stated that the sole enemy targeted by the Palestinian resistance is the Israeli occupation.
He also emphasized that Hamas will do whatever it takes to boost unity and cooperation in the blockaded Gaza Strip and the Palestinian society in general.
7 mar 2017
Director of Rafah border crossing in Gaza Hisham Adwan said that Egypt recently allowed and facilitated the entry of goods and construction materials to the Gaza Strip, applauding the new Egyptian attitude towards the Strip.
“There is a common interest between the Palestinian and Egyptian sides in opening the Rafah crossing permanently and continuously.
We want to sever the commercial exchange with the occupation,” Adwan stated in press remarks to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).
“Why don’t we have extensive and huge trade with our Egyptian brothers through this crossing? What prevents us from opening it widely, especially since it is a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing,” he said.
The Palestinian official urged the Egyptian authorities to open the crossing on a daily basis to facilitate the life of the population in Gaza and contribute to alleviating the blockade imposed on them.
“We have started to see a change in Egypt’s measures especially that the number of closure days shrank from three months to about 20 days at intervals,” he said.
He expressed hope that the crossing would be opened permanently in light of Egypt’s new position towards Gaza.
“There is a common interest between the Palestinian and Egyptian sides in opening the Rafah crossing permanently and continuously.
We want to sever the commercial exchange with the occupation,” Adwan stated in press remarks to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).
“Why don’t we have extensive and huge trade with our Egyptian brothers through this crossing? What prevents us from opening it widely, especially since it is a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing,” he said.
The Palestinian official urged the Egyptian authorities to open the crossing on a daily basis to facilitate the life of the population in Gaza and contribute to alleviating the blockade imposed on them.
“We have started to see a change in Egypt’s measures especially that the number of closure days shrank from three months to about 20 days at intervals,” he said.
He expressed hope that the crossing would be opened permanently in light of Egypt’s new position towards Gaza.
21 feb 2017
The Israeli war minister Avigdor Lieberman admitted for the first time on Tuesday that special forces of the Israeli army bombed sites in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and killed five members of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The statement came during an interview with the Israeli Army Radio when Lieberman was asked about the news that the Israeli army bombed sites belonging to the ISIS in Sinai in response to the shooting attacks launched from Sinai against Eilat city a week earlier.
Lieberman added, "We don't leave anything without response. I don't think the existence of the ISIS in Sinai is a serious threat, but it's a real irritant."
The statement came during an interview with the Israeli Army Radio when Lieberman was asked about the news that the Israeli army bombed sites belonging to the ISIS in Sinai in response to the shooting attacks launched from Sinai against Eilat city a week earlier.
Lieberman added, "We don't leave anything without response. I don't think the existence of the ISIS in Sinai is a serious threat, but it's a real irritant."
19 feb 2017
Mumen Abu Hamed
Civil defense and ambulance crews in Gaza on Sunday managed to retrieve the body of a Palestinian young man after a week of search efforts inside a tunnel used for commercial purposes in a Rafah border area with Egypt.
The young man, Mumen Abu Hamed, died last week after the Egyptian army flooded a cross-border tunnel he was inside.
Dozens of Palestinian tunnel workers had died in previous similar incidents as they were working hard to make ends meet in the embattled Gaza Strip.
Civil defense and ambulance crews in Gaza on Sunday managed to retrieve the body of a Palestinian young man after a week of search efforts inside a tunnel used for commercial purposes in a Rafah border area with Egypt.
The young man, Mumen Abu Hamed, died last week after the Egyptian army flooded a cross-border tunnel he was inside.
Dozens of Palestinian tunnel workers had died in previous similar incidents as they were working hard to make ends meet in the embattled Gaza Strip.
13 feb 2017
Momen Abu Hamed
A Palestinian worker died Monday afternoon inside a tunnel in Gaza, leading to the Egyptian lands and used for commercial purposes, after the Egyptian army flooded the tunnel with water, according to media sources.
Local and medical sources revealed that the Palestinian young man Momen Abu Hamed drowned in the tunnel and his body was taken to a hospital in Rafah.
Dozens of Palestinian workers in Gaza died in similar incidents while searching for a living in those tunnels which have been used by Gazan people for the sake of breaking the ongoing siege on the Gaza Strip for over 11 years.
A Palestinian worker died Monday afternoon inside a tunnel in Gaza, leading to the Egyptian lands and used for commercial purposes, after the Egyptian army flooded the tunnel with water, according to media sources.
Local and medical sources revealed that the Palestinian young man Momen Abu Hamed drowned in the tunnel and his body was taken to a hospital in Rafah.
Dozens of Palestinian workers in Gaza died in similar incidents while searching for a living in those tunnels which have been used by Gazan people for the sake of breaking the ongoing siege on the Gaza Strip for over 11 years.
2 jan 2017
Egyptian border forces on Sunday “uncovered” and destroyed 12 tunnels along the borders of the northern Sinai and Gaza Strip, according to Egyptian army spokesman Tamer al-Rifae.
It remained unclear exactly how the tunnels were destroyed.
Four Palestinians from the besieged Gaza Strip were left dead last month when Egyptian authorities deliberately flooded a tunnel with seawater.
Palestinians in Gaza have relied on underground smuggling tunnels across the Egyptian border since 2007, when Israel imposed a crippling military blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control there.
Until the July 2013 ouster of Egyptian president Muhammad Morsi, tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt provided a vital lifeline for the small Palestinian territory.
Since Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi came to power, however, Egypt has strictly enforced the blockade and flooded hundreds of the tunnels as part of an ongoing security campaign in the northern Sinai Peninsula against anti-regime militants launching attacks on Egyptian police and military personnel.
Egypt accuses Hamas of supporting the insurgents, allegations Hamas strongly denies.
Human Rights Watch slammed Egypt's military for its campaign against the tunnels in 2015, during which the group said some 3,200 families had been evicted from their homes near the border and hundreds of acres of farmland destroyed.
The group said Egypt had failed to provide adequate proof that insurgents were receiving support from the Gaza Strip.
The UN reported in February that only a few tunnels remained partially operational between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
It remained unclear exactly how the tunnels were destroyed.
Four Palestinians from the besieged Gaza Strip were left dead last month when Egyptian authorities deliberately flooded a tunnel with seawater.
Palestinians in Gaza have relied on underground smuggling tunnels across the Egyptian border since 2007, when Israel imposed a crippling military blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control there.
Until the July 2013 ouster of Egyptian president Muhammad Morsi, tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt provided a vital lifeline for the small Palestinian territory.
Since Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi came to power, however, Egypt has strictly enforced the blockade and flooded hundreds of the tunnels as part of an ongoing security campaign in the northern Sinai Peninsula against anti-regime militants launching attacks on Egyptian police and military personnel.
Egypt accuses Hamas of supporting the insurgents, allegations Hamas strongly denies.
Human Rights Watch slammed Egypt's military for its campaign against the tunnels in 2015, during which the group said some 3,200 families had been evicted from their homes near the border and hundreds of acres of farmland destroyed.
The group said Egypt had failed to provide adequate proof that insurgents were receiving support from the Gaza Strip.
The UN reported in February that only a few tunnels remained partially operational between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
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