Jewish settlers burn 100 olive trees in West Bank

In 2013, there were 399 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs counted. (Archive Image) - See more at: http://www.daysofpalestine.com/news/jewish-settlers-burn-100-olive-trees-wb/#sthash.wGzDe8M0.dpuf

Jewish settlers burn 100 olive trees in WB

Days of Palestine, West Bank –Israeli Jewish settlers burnt on Thursday over than 100 olive trees in Palestinian farms in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Days of Palestine reporter said that a group of masked settlers stormed the town of Huwwara in Nablus and sneaked to the farms. “Little time later, we saw the poles of smoke rising from the farms,” the reporter said.

The farmers and the Palestinians in the area rushed to the farms “to be surprised with the olive trees, which have not been harvested yet, were burning.”

Palestinians took their extinguishers to attempt extinguishing the fire, but the Israeli occupation forces prevented them. “They even prevented the Palestinian civil defence vans,” the reporter said.

“After a couple of hours, when more than one hundred olive trees were completely turned to ash,” the reporter went on, “the Israeli forces allowed the civil defence and firefighters to the farms.”

About why the owners of the farms have not yet harvested the olive crop, the mayor of the twon said that the Israeli occupation forces have been prevented them from entering their farms.

However, after the trees were burnt, the Israeli occupation allowed the owners to reach their farms, “but that was too late,” one of the farmers said.

The town of Huwara has witnessed continuous attacks carried out by Israeli settlers who come from the Yitzhar and other nearby settlements. There, the Jewish settlers are known for their extremism and hostility towards Arabs.

Around 20,000 Jewish settlers live near Nablus in 39 Jewish-only settlements. Palestinian residents, for their part, complain of repeated attacks by settlers, who usually enjoy the protection of the Israeli occupation forces.

Settler attacks have recently escalated with the start of the olive harvest season, and several Palestinian towns have seen their crops stolen, olive trees cut and lands confiscated.

Settler attacks are almost universally condemned, but rarely punished. “In 2013, there were 399 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs counted.

- Source: http://www.daysofpalestine.com/news/jewish-settlers-burn-100-olive-trees-wb/#sthash.wGzDe8M0.dpuf

Israeli troops ‘see Palestinians not as humans’

According to UNICEF, every year about 700 Palestinian children from 12 to 17-years old get arrested, interrogated and detained by Israeli occupation forces. (Child wounded in Gaza) 

Russia Today –Former Israeli Occupation Soldier Nadav Bigelman has told RT that Israeli troops serving in West Bank “see Palestinians not as humans.”

“When they [Israeli troops] are ordered to arrest someone, it does not matter whether it is a child or an elderly person.

On Sunday the Israeli occupation forces arrested an 11-year-old mentally ill Palestinian boy living in the outskirts of Al-Khalil, a Palestinian town in the West Bank, a video published by Israeli rights group B’Tselem revealed.

In this interview, Nadav speak about the ‘ethics’ of the Israeli troops dealing with the Palestinians.

RT: What do you make out of this latest video? Have you arrested children like that yourself?

Nadav Bigelman: Unfortunately it did not surprise me. I can say that as a soldier, who served also in Al-Khalil as a combat soldier between 2007 until 2010, I took part several times in arrests like this.

I think what people need to understand is that … soldiers look at Palestinians in the way not as at human beings. In that way they also will not look at them as at children or teenagers…

As a soldier, who served…in the Occupied Territories, I can say that when you need to arrest someone, that is the order you were given, you would arrest him, you would detain him, you would handcuff him.

It does not matter if he is 8-years old, 25-years old, 50 or 60. The order is very clear – if you need to arrest him or detain him, then you do it. If he is 10-years old you would also do it.

After a while you stop looking at people as people, you stop looking at children as children, you stop looking at teenagers as teenagers, you look at them just as at Palestinians, just as at people that can always potentially be terrorists.

RT: What made you stop and look at these children as children, not just Palestinians?

NB: One of the things that I went through is during [service in] the army I started asking questions. It took me a while, only after I got out of the army, I broke my silence, – I gave a testimony to the organisation I am a part of now, Breaking the Silence. And I started to be exposed to more and more things like that.

What people should understand is that children and the youth are only part of these kinds of groups. We are talking about the elderly, or women, or any kind of groups of people that the army wants to deal with, to arrest, to detain, whatever, they would do it.

I started to think that maybe the problem here is much bigger and that this is the nature of the occupation, this is how controlling millions of people looks like.

RT: Do you feel any pressure from your peers, from Israeli society for coming out, for speaking out against the Israeli occupation forces?

NB: I am not speaking against the Israeli occupation forces. I was a soldier. I am representing here a group about 950 soldiers that served either in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.

What we are saying is that the problem in many ways is not the army, the problem is what the army is sent to do and that is to control about 4 million people under a military regime. We have been doing it for almost 50 years.

RT: So, who is responsible for this problem, for using the army in this way?

Former Israeli Occupation Soldier Nadav Bigelman

NB: There is no doubt that we are trying to show to the Israeli public and to the international community that we keep on choosing day after day to control millions of people. Once you do that, and I can say again from my own personal experience and after I had hundreds of testimonies, that this is how it works.

You cannot control people without force, you cannot take people’s liberty and freedom without them resisting you and then arresting them, and then we can see images and videos just like we have seen in the last few days.

This is how the occupation works; it cannot be quiet, it cannot be symbolic, it cannot be non-violent because my definition – it is a violent structure.

- See more at: http://www.daysofpalestine.com/features/israeli-troops-see-palestinians-humans/#sthash.SeP0weos.dpuf

Dr. Norman Finkelstein

Israeli police shot Palestinian lost control of his car

Days of Palestine, Jerusalem –Israeli police hot on Wednesday a Palestinian lost control of his car near a rail station in East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian youths Abdul-Rahman al-Shalludi, 20, was driving near the Ammunition Hill Station when he lost control of his car and hit commuters waiting for the train.

Israeli authorities and Israeli media said that the incident was a ‘terror attack’ carried out intentionally by the Palestinian, who they said has a security record.

An Israeli child and eight others were wounded. All were rushed to Israeli hospitals for treatment. The child was announced dead.

Witnesses told Days of Palestine that the Palestinian man was driving normally before he lost contrive of his car. “There were no signs for a terror attack,” an eye witness said.

He went on: “The car collided about 30 metres far from the station. If the driver planned to attack the commuters, he would have turned to their side from a closer point.”

Other witnesses were reported by different mass media; however, the Israeli media and the Israeli officials insisted that it was a ‘terror attack.’

He was dumb regarding the incident when an Israeli settler ran over two Palestinian little girls on Monday in Al-Khalil. However, he had two tongues to speak about today’s incident.

Israeli Ynet News said that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in wake of the accident.

“This is how Abu-Mazen’s [Abbas] partners in government work,” he said, referring to the Palestinian unity government comprising Hamas and Fatah that the Israeli occupation has consistently opposed.

Considering him a terrorist, the Israeli police immediately shot the Palestinian driver as soon as he left his car, which was stuck to the side of the road.

This is a video of Abdul Rahman being shot.

- See more at: http://www.daysofpalestine.com/news/israeli-police-shot-palestinian-lost-control-car/#at_pco=smlre-1.0&at_si=5449ba7ec3d86b24&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=2&at_tot=4

EU looking to set five 'red lines' regarding Israeli settlements

The European Union is looking into the possibility of setting five "red lines" to warn Israel from continuing its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to an internal EU document obtained by Haaretz newspaper.

Haaretz revealed on Wednesday that, according to the document, the EU's proposed red lines would include:

First, any construction in the Givat Hamatos neighbourhood south of occupied Jerusalem beyond the Green Line is a red line, because construction in that area would jeopardise the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.

The second red line is any construction in the E1 area between Ma'aleh Adumim and occupied Jerusalem, as settlements in this area would also jeopardise the possibility of a contiguous and independent Palestinian state.

The document deemed further construction in the Har Homa settlement in occupied Jerusalem beyond the Green Line to be the third red line.

The fourth red line is executing Israel's plans to relocate 12,000 Bedouin without their consent to a new town in the Jordan Valley, expelling them from lands in the occupied West Bank, including E1.

And finally, the fifth red line is further attempts by Israel to harm the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

According to Haaretz, after Israel's appropriation of 4,000 dunams in Gush Etzion in the occupied West Bank, and plans for additional construction in Givat Hamatos in occupied Jerusalem, "a series of discussions have been taking place in the EU's headquarters in Brussels between the ambassadors of the 28 members states over the European response."

The newspaper added that, "Officials in the Israeli Foreign Ministry are concerned the negotiations are a prelude to further European sanctions against Israel."

"The EU's ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, is set to relay the message to Israel. He is expected to meet in the coming days with Foreign Ministry Director Nissim Ben Sheetrit and with national security advisor in the Prime Minister's Office Yossi Cohen to propose negotiations over the issues which raised the EU's concerns," Haaretz reported.

However, European officials stressed to the newspaper that the red lines "have yet to be fully defined, if at all," as well as what would be "the repercussions for crossing them".

Source : https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/14803-eu-looking-to-set-five-red-lines-regarding-israeli-settlements