Palestinian/ Israeli update 4/13/2016..Gaza Suffering Lack Of Fuel, Water And Building Materials
Palestinians: Israel trying to judaize West Bank
Gazans Rally To Protest Awful Humanitarian Conditions
Watchdog: Israeli Settlements More than Double in 2016
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950125001239
Israel has advanced plans for 250 percent more settler homes in the first quarter of 2016 than it did in the same period last year, settlement watchdogs said.
The watchdogs said that from January to March this year, the Israeli government pushed forward plans for 674 housing units in settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, considered illegal under international law, despite its declared planning freeze, Ma’an reported.
Israel also retroactively legalized 175 settlement homes which had been previously built without government approval.
This compared to 194 homes in the first quarter of 2015, the watchdog said, noting that in total 1,665 settler units were advanced last year, 1,044 of which were retroactively legalized.
The settlements watchdogs said that while the government has claimed to only approve existing construction, so far this year only 26 percent of the plans advanced were retroactive legalizations.
There are now some 550,000 Israelis living in Jewish-only settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Rights groups have said that the settlements’ existence “leads to violations of many of the human rights of Palestinians, including the rights to property, equality, an adequate standard of living and freedom of movement.”
Palestine: Gaza Suffering Lack Of Fuel, Water And Building Materials
12-Year-Old Palestinian Prisoner
One Palestinian Father vs. the Media
Israel excuses killing of fleeing Palestinian teen as “professional mistake”
The Israeli army has closed its investigation into the colonel who shot a 17-year-old Palestinian boy to death while he was fleeing.
Last July, Yisrael Shomer, a commander of the Binyamin Brigade, shot Muhammad al-Kasbeh with live ammunition.
Muhammad had allegedly thrown a rock at Shomer’s jeep near the military checkpoint at Qalandiya in the occupied West Bank.
The shooting took place in the early morning after Muhammad and his friends had tried to cross Qalandiya, which separates East Jerusalem from the remainder of the West Bank.
They had hoped to attend prayers at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during Ramadan.
The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem described the closure of the case as “an integral part of the whitewash mechanism which is Israel’s military investigative system.”
Sharon Afek, Israel’s military advocate-general, found that the shooting was justified, as Shomer had shot Muhammad while conducting an arrest. The open-fire regulations for the Israeli military permit soldiers to shoot suspects in the legs in order to detain them.
Muhammad was hit by three bullets: one in the face and two in the back. There were no gunshot injuries to his legs.
The investigation determined that Shomer’s shots were inaccurate because Muhammad was in motion, according to the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz.
Disregard for life
Afek said it was “a professional mistake in the way he [Shomer] fired, but one that was made in clearly operational circumstances.”
Security camera footage from a nearby gas station first obtained and released by B’Tselem supported the human rights organization’s claims that the soldiers were in no imminent danger.
The footage shows the rapid series of events.
A person, presumably Muhammad, runs up to the army vehicle and throws a rock at the windshield. Muhammad immediately turns and runs out of view of the camera, while two soldiers exit the jeep and immediately begin firing in his direction.
The footage refutes claims made by Roni Numa, a major-general in the Israeli military’s central command, that Shomer was “faced with real mortal threat.”
Bethlehem’s youth-run radio station faces off against unemployment, occupation
LOOK: One Detail In Morgan Freeman’s Photo Just Set Off A Palestinian Firestorm
In the Holy Land, it can take only one word to launch an unholy row.
This time, that word was “Israel,” which touched off new rounds of social media sparring after actor Morgan Freeman appended the name of the nation to a photo he posted on Facebook showing himself in Jerusalem. Freeman, who visited Israel last October as part of his National Geographic series The Story of God, recently added the image as his Facebook profile picture.
Because of that one word, a deluge of comments ensued.
“There is no Israel state before 1948. It is the Palestinian capital and an occupied city according to the United Nations,” wrote Ahmad Abuznaid.
“I always respect you mister morgan! But i think i become hating you now!! This city is palestennian (sic)!! Everybody knows her story and how it becomes israelian (sic)! In our hearts and souls this city will come back to the (right) people (palestine and muslim) and thank you very much for showin me who really you are!!” wrote Mohammed Ghaleb Klabi
“A wonderful photo in Jerusalem, which as everyone knows has been the Jewish capital for over 3,000 years,” wrote Michael Dickson, who is also Israel office director for the pro-Israel organization StandWithUs. “There’s only one Jewish country in the world, Israel, our ancient homeland. It’s also the free-est country in the Middle East so for both those reasons we get some hate. It’s a tough neighborhood. But we tough it out, live our lives freely and try and be a beacon for our neighbors, whose regimes are a little behind the times. Jerusalem, in Hebrew, means city of Peace: some of the commentators here ought to learn from that. Shalom and Peace. And thank you for visiting, Mr. Freeman.”
Amid the clashing of opinions was a voice urging calm.
“Can you not always link this kind of photo with the conflict between Israel and Palestine?? Man, he’s just a visitor, a traveller he doesn’t come to Jerusalem to be insulted or being called a supporter of the Isreali cause or the Palestinian one,” posted Felix Bouin.
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2016/04/palestinian-israeli-update-4132016gaza.html
