PALESTINE : Media Monitoring Report
Palestine Press - Israeli Media Watch
November 19th 2015
Israel to Demolish Residential Structures in Jordan Valley
JERICHO, November 18, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities late Tuesday night notified local Palestinians in Fasayel, a village in central Jordan Valley, about their intent to demolish the latter’s private-owned residential structures in the area, according to local sources.
Aref Daraghmeh, who monitors settlement activities in the Valley, said seven local families were notified that their residential structures would be demolished within one week.
Earlier in August, the Israeli army demolished residential structures and tents belonging to the same families, Daraghmeh added.
The village is located in Area C of the West Bank, under complete Israeli military control, where Israel rarely issues construction permits for Palestinians, prompting them to embark on construction without a permit.
Israel has heavily invested in transferring the Jordan Valley into a completely Israeli area, primarily in agriculture, targeting to ban territorial contiguity between a future Palestinian state and the rest of the Arab world.
To this end, tens of settlements and agricultural outposts have been established by Israel in the Valley, which makes up about one-third of the total area of the occupied West Bank.
Significantly contributing to the Israeli agriculture, the Jordan Valley is nonetheless part of the West Bank occupied since 1967, which the international community does not recognize as an Israeli territory.
EU delegation meets with PA to discuss Gaza reconstruction
GAZA (Ma’an) -- Palestinian Authority officials on Wednesday met with the European Union's delegation to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to discuss Gaza's reconstruction effort, the Minister of Public Works and Housing said.
Mufid al-Hasayna said the PA asked EU countries "to keep their promises” concerning Gaza's reconstruction following Israel's 2014 Gaza offensive.
The delegation met with the PA following a trip into Gaza earlier that morning.
While the reconstruction effort has been ongoing, there have been numerous obstacles, including financial restraints and physical logistics.
“Ninety percent of the partially damaged homes are almost done with their reconstruction, but we are waiting for the financial support to finish the rest," al-Hasayna told Ma’an, adding that "there is full collaboration between the ministry and the donors for the reconstruction effort.”
Al-Hasayna noted that one of the major challenges to the reconstruction process was getting construction materials into the Strip, due to Israel's ongoing siege on the enclave. According to al-Hasayna, Gaza needs at least 7,000 tons of construction materials to complete the rebuild.
In addition to housing reconstruction, al-Hasayna said Gaza's water crisis was also discussed.
In May, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that reconstruction since Israel's 2014 Gaza offensive has been significantly lower than expected, while the World Bank reported that the strip was facing a "dangerous fiscal crisis."
Over 2,200 Palestinians were killed in the offensive, which caused severe damage to housing and infrastructure.
Unemployment in Gaza increased in 2014 "to reach 44 percent -- probably the highest in the world," the World Bank reported.
"Gaza's unemployment and poverty figures are very troubling and the economic outlook is worrying," the World Bank quoted Palestinian territories director Steen Lau Jorgensen as saying in a statement.
The UN has repeatedly warned of further conflict in the area if the reconstruction process continues at such slow pace, emphasizing that Gaza's humanitarian crisis is worsened by Israel's continued blockade on the strip.
Israel severely limits the amount of building materials allowed into Gaza as part of its blockade, which is supported in the south by Egypt.
Critics of the blockade have called for it to be fully lifted to allow reconstruction, warning that an ongoing humanitarian crisis could fuel further conflict.
Palestinian Detainees Share Affidavits of Torture in Israeli Prisons
RAMALLAH, November 18, 2015 (WAFA) – An attorney from the Palestinian Detainees’ Affairs Committee Wednesday revealed affidavits presented by Palestinian detainees about brutal torture in Israeli prisons.
Hiba Masalha revealed two of the most painful experiences that Palestinian detainees endure in Majeddo prison.
She highlighted the stories of both Shukri Hantash, 15, who comes from the Jerusalem town of Abu Dis and has been detained since September 28, 2015 and Muhammad Darraj, 17, who comes from Ramallah city and has been detained since September 11, 2015.
Hantash was detained from Abu Dis downtown about 5PM on September 28. Five soldiers attacked and knocked him down and beat him up with their legs and rifles on his back and leg.
Masalha said the soldiers intentionally beat him up twice on his leg, inflicting horrible pain. Two soldiers handcuffed Hantash using plastic straps, blindfolded and dragged him into a military vehicle and moved him to a military camp.
Israeli soldiers dragged Shukri into a closed place after arriving in the camp, and a soldier whipped him several times using an electric cable, leaving marks of torture for about a month.
During evening time, Hantash was transferred to Ma‘ali Adumim detention and interrogation center and interrogated for about two hours. He was transferred to the minors section in Ofer detention center (prison), where he remained for two weeks.
Hantash was then transferred to Megiddo prison and strip-searched before being imprisoned in the minors’ section.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Darraj was detained around 2AM from his family’s house in Ramallah on September 11.
Several soldiers stormed the house and broke into Muhammad’s room while he was asleep. A soldier woke him up by beating him on the shoulder using a riffle. Muhammad woke up horrified and was not allowed any time to change his sleep wear or use the bathroom.
Israeli soldiers handcuffed Muhammad with plastic ties and blindfolded before being dragged into a military vehicle.
He was transferred into a military camp, where he was strip-searched and underwent a medical checkup. Muhammad was detained there until morning, until transferred into Etzion detention and interrogation center, where a soldier un-cuffed him.
Instead of using a specialized cutter to remove the plastic cuffs, the soldier used a cigarette lighter to melt the plastic cuffs; the plastic straps melted burning Muhammad’s hands.
Muhammad was detained in Ofer detention and interrogation center for about 40 days before being transferred to Majeddo prison. At Majeddo, he was strip-searched and then allowed into the minors’ section.
Palestinian Children Remain Victims of Ongoing Israeli Violence, says Statistics Bureau
RAMALLAH, November 18, 2015 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), on the eve of International Child Day, maintained that Palestinian children remain victims of the ongoing Israeli violence.
“Due to the Israeli provocations and the repeated raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and daily attacks on the Palestinians, the Palestinian children became the prime victims of such violations since late October this year,” said PCBS.
According to the Ministry of Health, Israeli soldiers killed 18 children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip until 16 November 2015. “Children represent thus far 20% of all martyrs.”
During the last war on the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, 540 children (340 males and 200 females) aging 10 days to 17 years were killed. Furthermore, 2,956 children (1,938 males and 1,018 females) were injured, 1,500 children were orphaned, and 54,000 children became homeless, said PCBS.
Regarding Israel’s detention of Palestinian children, data from the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission showed that 3,755 children were detained during the period 2010- 2014.
Defense for Children International stated that the number of children detained in the Israeli prisons from the beginning of January until the end of August 2015 reached 1,322 children.
Additionally, during October, 2015 more than 600 children under the age of 16 years were arrested and imprisoned in Israeli jails, 60% of whom were arrested from their homes and there are 5 of them were arrested after they were shot, added PCBS.
Regarding Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes, PCBS said that, “The number of houses demolished by Israeli authorities in East Jerusalem in the period from 2004 till mid-2014 reached 545 dwellings. Subsequently, 2,115 persons, including 1,140 children lost their homes.”
“In the period from 2006 to 2014 Israel demolished at least 817 residential units of Palestinians in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), displacing thus 3,956 Palestinians including 1,925 minors.”
PCBS added that, “Israeli authorities repetitively demolishes houses in the Jordan Valley and southern Hebron as well as in the villages unrecognized by Israel, until 15 December 2014, it had demolished houses displacing at least 556 Palestinians including 286 minors in these areas, some of these houses were demolished several times.”
On a different note, PCBS said that, “50,000 children, enrolled in 183 schools in area C, do not enjoy access to education because of insufficient schools and risk on the way to school.”
According to Save the Children, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education data, more than 1,700 children in 37 localities in area C walked about 5 kilometers or more to school.
“Around 2,500 children were forced to cross military checkpoints to reach school on a daily basis, while 10,000 children were learning in tents, caravans and tin shacks that provided no protection against heat or cold.”
Israeli Media Watch
Netanyahu hints at new unilateral moves in West Bank
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday hinted that he could pursue unilateral moves in the West Bank in the absence of a peace process with the Palestinians.
He spoke in advance of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s expected trip to Israel next week, during which the two men will meet for the second time since earlier this month, when they spoke for three hours in Washington.
The prime minister is under pressure from the United States to come up with a plan to preserve the option of a two-state solution in the absence of a renewed peace process. The US also is looking to him to take steps to ease life for Palestinians in the West Bank, despite the wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
Netanyahu: 'We have to fight terrorism, like we fought the Nazis'
The international community must fight radical Islamic terrorism like it once fought the Nazis during World World II, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday during an interview withJerusalem Post diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon.
“You are not going to change them. You will not win them over. You will not pacify them. The only way to defeat them is the way you defeated Nazism,” Netanyahu said during the 40-minute interview at the fourth annual Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem.
Before the start of the interview, Netanyahu stood on the stage with the French ambassador to Israel, Patrick Maisonnave, for a moment of silence in memory of the more than 130 victims of ISIS-based terrorist attacks in France in the last week.
"In Jerusalem today we stand with the people of Paris. The people of Israel stand with the people of France. Ambassador, this is not a figurative stance, it's not just lip service,” Netanyahu said.
Israel said to mull downgrading ties with Europeans over labeling
Israel has reportedly decided upon punitive measures against 16 European countries that pushed the European Union’s foreign policy chief to promote an initiative to label products made in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-mulling-downgrading-ties-with-europeans-over-labeling/
War against EU settlement products labeling begins
A week after European Union’s decision to label goods produced in the settlements, Israel announces gloves are off and that it is taking steps against 16 European countries that supported the initiative.
Israel has decided to fight back against the European Union’s decision to start labeling goods produced in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, starting with measures take against 16 European countries that pushed for product labeling in April.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4727719,00.html
