29 dec 2017
A group of extremist Jewish settlers carried out arson attacks two days ago on Palestinian homes in Beit Safafa, south of Occupied Jerusalem, in a failed attempt to kill families.
A local resident called Riyadh Khattab told Quds Press that settlers, from the price tag gang, threw Molotov cocktails on his parked car near his house in Beit Safafa in an attempt to kill him along with family members, affirming that the car was very close the house.
“We woke up to the sounds of explosions and something burning at dawn Wednesday and when we went outside to see what was happening, we found our car in flames,” Khattab explained.
He said that the settlers also threw at least one Molotov cocktail on their neighborhood’s house, adding that no one was hurt in the arson attacks, which caused only material damage.
He pointed out that they called in the Israeli police immediately and when officers came they conducted a quick investigation into the incident and refused to accuse settlers of committing the attack, although there was a surveillance video recording proving they were settlers.
The police also considered the incident a criminal case and not an act of terrorism, he said.
The phrase "price tag" is notorious in Palestine, associated with a string of violent attacks carried out by an organized Zionist movement on Muslim and Christian Arabs, their property and holy sites over the past decade.
A local resident called Riyadh Khattab told Quds Press that settlers, from the price tag gang, threw Molotov cocktails on his parked car near his house in Beit Safafa in an attempt to kill him along with family members, affirming that the car was very close the house.
“We woke up to the sounds of explosions and something burning at dawn Wednesday and when we went outside to see what was happening, we found our car in flames,” Khattab explained.
He said that the settlers also threw at least one Molotov cocktail on their neighborhood’s house, adding that no one was hurt in the arson attacks, which caused only material damage.
He pointed out that they called in the Israeli police immediately and when officers came they conducted a quick investigation into the incident and refused to accuse settlers of committing the attack, although there was a surveillance video recording proving they were settlers.
The police also considered the incident a criminal case and not an act of terrorism, he said.
The phrase "price tag" is notorious in Palestine, associated with a string of violent attacks carried out by an organized Zionist movement on Muslim and Christian Arabs, their property and holy sites over the past decade.
12 dec 2017
Jewish extremist Yinon Reuveni, convicted of setting fire to the Benedictine church, sentenced to 4 years in prison, 2 years of probation and ordered to pay NIS 50,000 in damages; lawyers says plans to appeal punishment and conviction.
Jewish extremist Yinon Reuveni was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday after having been convicted of arson for setting fire to the Church of Loaves and Fishes, which is located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel.
Reuveni was also given two years of probation and ordered to pay NIS 50,000 in damages.
His lawyer, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he intends to appeal both the punishment and the conviction.
Ben-Gvir argued his client cannot pay damages, as he is being held as a Jewish security prisoner and not allowed to leave his cell, not even to work. Judge Georges Azoulay, however, rejected that claim.
The Church of Loaves and Fishes, which is run by the Order of Saint Benedict, is considered one of the most important churches in Israel. Christians believe the church is built on the site where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes. It is a traditional site of pilgrimage in the Holy Land.
In June 2015, Reuveni and several others torched the church, causing extensive damage to two rooms and the structure's exterior. Firefighters called to the scene managed to extinguish the flames just in time to avert what could have been far more damaging as they burned just meters away from the main hall of the church itself and its wooden ceiling.
In addition to the fire, Reuveni also defaced the limestone wall with red paint denouncing the worship of idols.
Two people, a young female pilgrim and a 70-year-old man, were wounded in the blaze from smoke inhalation.
The arson led to widespread condemnation in Israel and abroad, with religious leaders of all faiths and denominations coming to Tabgha to show their support to the monks and to protest the arson.
A security video showed a Subaru vehicle near the church at the time of the arson. The same vehicle was also spotted in a gas station's security cameras in the Latrun area, with Reuveni seen filling a bottle with gasoline. The bottle was later found at the scene. Police investigators also found gloves some five kilometers away from the church with Reuveni's DNA on them.
Another defendant, Yehuda Asraf, 21, the owner of the car, was acquitted in June of charges of conspiring to commit a crime and aiding and abetting.
The Shin Bet said Reuveni and his friends belong to an ideological group seeking to "change the government and bring closer the redemption," among others things by targeting Christian sites across Israel.
Jewish extremist Yinon Reuveni was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday after having been convicted of arson for setting fire to the Church of Loaves and Fishes, which is located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel.
Reuveni was also given two years of probation and ordered to pay NIS 50,000 in damages.
His lawyer, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he intends to appeal both the punishment and the conviction.
Ben-Gvir argued his client cannot pay damages, as he is being held as a Jewish security prisoner and not allowed to leave his cell, not even to work. Judge Georges Azoulay, however, rejected that claim.
The Church of Loaves and Fishes, which is run by the Order of Saint Benedict, is considered one of the most important churches in Israel. Christians believe the church is built on the site where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes. It is a traditional site of pilgrimage in the Holy Land.
In June 2015, Reuveni and several others torched the church, causing extensive damage to two rooms and the structure's exterior. Firefighters called to the scene managed to extinguish the flames just in time to avert what could have been far more damaging as they burned just meters away from the main hall of the church itself and its wooden ceiling.
In addition to the fire, Reuveni also defaced the limestone wall with red paint denouncing the worship of idols.
Two people, a young female pilgrim and a 70-year-old man, were wounded in the blaze from smoke inhalation.
The arson led to widespread condemnation in Israel and abroad, with religious leaders of all faiths and denominations coming to Tabgha to show their support to the monks and to protest the arson.
A security video showed a Subaru vehicle near the church at the time of the arson. The same vehicle was also spotted in a gas station's security cameras in the Latrun area, with Reuveni seen filling a bottle with gasoline. The bottle was later found at the scene. Police investigators also found gloves some five kilometers away from the church with Reuveni's DNA on them.
Another defendant, Yehuda Asraf, 21, the owner of the car, was acquitted in June of charges of conspiring to commit a crime and aiding and abetting.
The Shin Bet said Reuveni and his friends belong to an ideological group seeking to "change the government and bring closer the redemption," among others things by targeting Christian sites across Israel.
30 nov 2017
Huri and Jamaa
Store owner denies being responsible for deadly blaze that led to explosion and collapse of building, leaving three people dead; 'We don’t know exactly what happened, but something doesn’t add up,' says police source.
The Israel Police arrested Thursday on suspicion of arson the owner of the Jaffa paint store that exploded on Tuesday, causing the building to collapse and claiming the lives of three people.
The store owner denies all accusations made against him.
"It is unfortunate that he is being accused of a crime he did not commit. I am confident that his name will be cleared in court," said his lawyer, Walid Kabub.
The victims of the explosion were identified as Ali Abu Jamaa, 22, of Tayibe, Rimon Huri, 20, of Jaffa, and Mohammad Yassin of Tulkarem.
Jamaa and Huri, who worked in a restaurant in the city, were found dead in their beds behind the store, which collapsed from the explosion's impact.
Soon enough, questions arose regarding the circumstances of the explosion. "We don’t know exactly what happened, but something doesn’t add up," said a police source involved in the investigation. "Suspicious substances were found at the site, and maybe they caused the explosion. They were sent to the lab. They are not necessarily combustible materials from the shop, and that’s why we are looking into it. It can seem like a deliberate act."
The initial assessment was that a gas leak caused the explosion. Since then, however, additional possibilities arose and were being looked into, including the possibility that a dispute led to arson being committed.
The shop was located among residential buildings in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa. Due to the presence of highly flammable gas canisters, nearby residents were evacuated.
It took six fire squads to put out the flames including "Lahava," the elite firefighting unit that responds to special situations.
Rescue units of the Home Front Command, who are currently training at the ruins of the former Bezeq building in Tel Aviv, were also on hand.
Store owner denies being responsible for deadly blaze that led to explosion and collapse of building, leaving three people dead; 'We don’t know exactly what happened, but something doesn’t add up,' says police source.
The Israel Police arrested Thursday on suspicion of arson the owner of the Jaffa paint store that exploded on Tuesday, causing the building to collapse and claiming the lives of three people.
The store owner denies all accusations made against him.
"It is unfortunate that he is being accused of a crime he did not commit. I am confident that his name will be cleared in court," said his lawyer, Walid Kabub.
The victims of the explosion were identified as Ali Abu Jamaa, 22, of Tayibe, Rimon Huri, 20, of Jaffa, and Mohammad Yassin of Tulkarem.
Jamaa and Huri, who worked in a restaurant in the city, were found dead in their beds behind the store, which collapsed from the explosion's impact.
Soon enough, questions arose regarding the circumstances of the explosion. "We don’t know exactly what happened, but something doesn’t add up," said a police source involved in the investigation. "Suspicious substances were found at the site, and maybe they caused the explosion. They were sent to the lab. They are not necessarily combustible materials from the shop, and that’s why we are looking into it. It can seem like a deliberate act."
The initial assessment was that a gas leak caused the explosion. Since then, however, additional possibilities arose and were being looked into, including the possibility that a dispute led to arson being committed.
The shop was located among residential buildings in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa. Due to the presence of highly flammable gas canisters, nearby residents were evacuated.
It took six fire squads to put out the flames including "Lahava," the elite firefighting unit that responds to special situations.
Rescue units of the Home Front Command, who are currently training at the ruins of the former Bezeq building in Tel Aviv, were also on hand.
18 nov 2017
A group of extremist Israeli colonists burnt, Friday, Palestinian agricultural lands in Burin village, southwest of Nablus, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, and attacked many villagers and firefighters.
The Israeli assailants came from Yitzhar illegal colony, and nearby outposts, built on illegally confiscated Palestinian lands, and set fire to olive orchards in the area.
The attackers also assaulted many villagers and firefighters, while trying to extinguish fires set in Palestinian lands close to Givat Ronin illegal colonialist outpost.
The Palestinians eventually managed to remove the colonists and extinguish the fires.
The Israeli assailants came from Yitzhar illegal colony, and nearby outposts, built on illegally confiscated Palestinian lands, and set fire to olive orchards in the area.
The attackers also assaulted many villagers and firefighters, while trying to extinguish fires set in Palestinian lands close to Givat Ronin illegal colonialist outpost.
The Palestinians eventually managed to remove the colonists and extinguish the fires.
16 nov 2017
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Israeli settlers of Yitzhar set fires in two places, in Palestinian olive fields around their illegal outposts, and attacked a group of farmers a day later, under the eyes of around 30 border police present at the site.
On Sunday, 5 November, at about 10 o’clock in the morning, ISM activists saw smoke coming from olive fields on both hillsides, underneath an outpost of Yitzhar, the illegal settlement south of Nablus, built on the Hill between the Palestinian villages Huwarra and Burin. It wasn’t the first time this has happened. Since the expropriation of the farmland of Huwarra, Burin and Madama, and the illegal |
creation and steady expansion of the Israeli settlement Yitzhar, violent settlers do anything they can to harm the Palestinian farmers and families, without any risk of being punished for these crimes.
A farmer from Burin, whose olive field was set on fire, explained to us that the settler group chased him and his two companions and that they managed to escape.
The Palestinian Fire-brigade of Burin waited for permission from the Israeli authority to extinguish the fire, which they apparently did not get.
Israel is authoritative for the security in Area-C, and should, instead of blocking the Palestinian Fire brigade, fight any fire in Area-C themselves, which it has not done in the 25 year since this authority was agreed on, in the Oslo accords.
Instead of this, we saw border police, settler security and the settlers side-by-side, in the illegal Hilltop outpost, looking at the burning fields.
The next day, 6 November, 2017, at 8:30 AM, a group of nine settlers tried to attack farmers and workers who had official permission of the Israeli security authority, to harvest and cultivate the fields of the Owda family, which was partly burned down the previous day.
The large group of border police refused us entrance to the the area, which apparently was declared a closed military zone. The commander showed us the declaration on a paper, which didn’t show many details.
A farmer from Burin, whose olive field was set on fire, explained to us that the settler group chased him and his two companions and that they managed to escape.
The Palestinian Fire-brigade of Burin waited for permission from the Israeli authority to extinguish the fire, which they apparently did not get.
Israel is authoritative for the security in Area-C, and should, instead of blocking the Palestinian Fire brigade, fight any fire in Area-C themselves, which it has not done in the 25 year since this authority was agreed on, in the Oslo accords.
Instead of this, we saw border police, settler security and the settlers side-by-side, in the illegal Hilltop outpost, looking at the burning fields.
The next day, 6 November, 2017, at 8:30 AM, a group of nine settlers tried to attack farmers and workers who had official permission of the Israeli security authority, to harvest and cultivate the fields of the Owda family, which was partly burned down the previous day.
The large group of border police refused us entrance to the the area, which apparently was declared a closed military zone. The commander showed us the declaration on a paper, which didn’t show many details.
