Tuesday, October 21, 2014

5 Year Old Palestinian Child Begs To Israeli Soldiers For Father


A short clip showing a young five year old Palestinian child pleading to Israeli soldiers for love of father.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SHAHID4446
Website: http://www.truee.ssauk.eu

Israeli forces demolish 3 Jerusalem houses, 23 homeless

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli bulldozers demolished three Palestinian homes and three structures used for livestock in al-Tur east of the Old City of Jerusalem on Tuesday, residents said.

They said bulldozers of the Beit El settlement municipality were escorted by Israeli forces into al-Tur, where they demolished houses belonging to the al-Zari family, leaving 23 Palestinians homeless.

The Israeli officers first destroyed the main doors of the houses and forcibly evicted residents, homeowner Khader al-Zari told Ma'an.

"Israeli forces broke the main doors, forcibly evicted us and did not allow us to take out furniture or any possessions, but instead gave their workers 30 minutes to take our possessions out of the houses," al-Zari said.

Several pieces of furniture were still inside the houses as they were demolished, he added.

Al-Zari said the houses and structures were built in the 80s, and that the family had been attempting to obtain the necessary permits and licenses from the Israeli civil administration for years.

He said the family had paid over 150,000 shekels (about $40,000) for lawyers and engineers in order to escape demolition, "but to no avail."

A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry unit in charge of civil administration in the Palestinian territories, told Ma'an via email that "the 6 buildings in A-Tur were illegal and were built without the necessary permits in a zone which is forbidden for construction because of security reasons, near the seam zone."

"The decision on the demolition was taken after demolition orders were delivered and after an enforcement process was completed. We would like to note that the Supreme Court of Justice rejected the appeal submitted by the owners of some of the buildings."

The spokesperson would not comment on whether or not residents' belongings were destroyed along with the homes as al-Zari said.



Israeli forces regularly demolish Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, usually under the pretext that the residents did not have the necessary permits.

Palestinians are rarely granted permits to build in areas under Israeli control.

According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Israeli bulldozers have destroyed 359 structures in the West Bank this year.

Source: http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734323

AREA C OF THE WEST BANK: KEY HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS

Israeli soldiers blindfold and detain 11 year old disabled child

Watch as settlers from the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, clap, shout and cheer as an Israeli soldier binds the hands of a child behind his back and fastens a blindfold over his eyes as another soldier stands on guard before they lift the frightened boy into the back of their military jeep enclosing him in darkness as the settlers’ cheering continues. The boy is eleven and developmentally disabled.

The scene, captured on video by a B’tselem volunteer, is another all too familiar scene of life under occupation.

B’tselem Press Release:

Yesterday, soldiers briefly detained a developmentally disabled Palestinian boy, who is under the age of criminal responsibility, on suspicion that he had thrown stones. The boy, A. a-Rajbi, (full name withheld in interest of privacy) who will be 12 in a month, was detained after Palestinian children threw stones at soldiers on the main road of the Jabel Johar neighborhood in Hebron, close to the settlement of Kiryat Arba. A-Rajbi was handcuffed, blindfolded, and held on the floor of an army jeep for some 15 minutes until his father arrived and convinced the soldiers to release his son, who is mentally disabled and cannot speak.

In the video footage, filmed by B’Tselem volunteer Samih Da’na from his window, soldiers are seen holding the boy, handcuffing him, blindfolding him and closing him in the jeep, despite cries by Palestinian residents that the boy is mentally disabled. The footage also shows settlers from Kiryat Arba, watching the incident from behind the settlement’s fence. Some are seen calling out encouragement to the soldiers, including several racist remarks.

It really bothers me how high the soldier twists the boy’s arm up his back.

About Annie Robbins
Annie Robbins is Editor at Large for Mondoweiss, a mother, a human rights activist and a ceramic artist. She lives in the SF bay area.

Follow her on Twitter @anniefofani
Other posts by Annie Robbins.
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