What Israeli occupation has wrought

The above video shows 5-year-old Khaled Jabari crying as the Israeli military takes his father away for "stealing water". In fact, he was only trying to access water that had already been stolen by Kiryat Arba, a nearby Israeli settlement. Palestine Monitor reports:

Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, commented the video, circulated yesterday on SKY TV and Al Jazeera, saying that “Palestinian children grow up under the Israeli occupation, surrounded by the Apartheid Wall, by oppression and destruction. Israel repudiates children’s rights and welfare and treats them like adults, clearly violating UN Declaration of Child’s Rights”.
 
After watching the footage, Hashem Abu Maria, of the Defence For Children International charity, said it was obvious the child thought his father would never return.
 
He said he was contacting child support agencies in the field to offer him psychological help to cope with the trauma."This child does not comprehend the concept of arrest - he does not know what it means, like the policeman or soldier understands it," he added. "I think that the child thinks that his father is leaving and not coming back - that he has lost him."
 
Israeli forces raided the town of Bakka after accusing Palestinian farmers of stealing water from the nearby Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba. They pulled out irrigation pipes supplying vines and vegetable fields before arresting several villagers, including the boy’s father. Angry Palestinian residents say they have documents to prove they are registered with the Palestinian Water Authority, and are paying for the water they use.
 
They say it is the second time in a month police have removed their irrigation pipes. "This land is the source of our income, and it is the cause of our struggle with the occupation since day one of the occupation," said Khaled’s grandfather Badran Jaber. "We live from it, we have no other job opportunity in light of unemployment reaching over 40% in the occupied territories."
 
The child’s grandmother, Im Ghassan, added: "What right do they have to do this? Where can we go? This is our land, our home and nation, this is ours. We live here, we were born here, and we want to die here. Let them do what they want, we cannot do any more."


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Israel Prevents Journalist from Traveling

Israeli soldiers attacking a journalist

NABLUS — Israeli authorities have prevented a Palestinian journalist from traveling abroad to complete his doctoral studies.

Suheil Khalaf, a correspondent for the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper, said that he attempted to cross over the Allenby Bridge terminal to Jordan but was surprised when Israeli authorities prevented him from leaving without providing any explanation.

Khalaf, who lectures in the department of political science at An-Najah University in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, said his most recent attempt was the second in less than a year to join his PhD program at Cairo University. The journalist called the procedure unjustified and said he obtained approval in advance.

A Palestinian activist from Ramallah, meanwhile, was stopped Wednesday, his colleagues said.

The Bil'in village's Popular Organizing Committee said community organizer Mohammed Khatib was stopped at the crossing and not allowed to cross for "security reasons" and was told to “go back home.”

Khatib's colleagues said he had obtained Israeli court permission to travel in advance, and was en route to the Amman airport for a flight to Spain, where he had several speaking engagements to attend.

Khatib was required to seek permission from Israeli officials to travel because of standing charges of incitement for organizing demonstrations against Israel's separation wall.

Khatib's lawyer, Gaby Lasky, said the ban “was not for security reasons, but rather politically-motivated vengeance.”

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Israel demolishes homes again in Al Araqib, excavates 15 graves in historical cemetery in Jerusalem

Several Israeli units carried out the demolition in the village of Al Araqib. (Al Jazeera)

Israeli forces razed homes of Al Araqib village once again, after families rebuilt most of the houses, and arrested eight people who stood up against them, leaving hundreds homeless, witnesses and Chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Al Araqib Yousef Abu Zayed said. At the same time Israeli bulldozers were digging up 15 graves and sweeping a cemetery in the far north-eastern side of Jerusalem.
 
Witnesses from the village said that large forces - with bulldozers and heavy machinery backed by police forces - entered the village for the demolition of their homes that have been rebuilt.
 
Israeli authorities have raided and destroyed the village last week, and deported some of its inhabitants. Villagers rebuilt parts of the village again, before occupation forces razed it again on Wednesday.
 
Al Araqib is one of 45 Arab villages in the Negev that Israel does not recognize.
 
It is noteworthy that the Negev is about 40% of historic Palestine, an area of 12 thousand and 577 km2, and home to nearly two hundred thousand Arabs. Israel is trying to concentrate them in seven communities that became centers of unemployment and poverty, and are more like refugee camps.
 
"They are trying to move us all onto reservations," said a villager, referring to the seven communities. "But there is no economy there, no jobs, no place for agriculture."

Villagers pray near their ruined homes after Israeli authorities demolished buildings in Al Araqib village. (Menahem Kahana AFP/Getty Images)

Demolition of graves:

On the other hand, the Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage confirmed that bulldozers and heavy machinery of the occupation forces dug up and destroyed 15 graves in a historical cemetery north-east of Jerusalem.

In a statement, the organization said that the process of excavation has been following maintenance and reconstruction in the cemetery, and that the cemetery is under continuous attacks and violations.


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Israeli air strikes kill one and injure two others in southern Gaza

Many victims killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. (Reuters)

A Palestinian was killed and two others wounded early Wednesday morning 4 August, by Israeli artillery fire on an area east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, medics and witnesses said.

Medical sources said that the body of the dead man as well as of the two wounded were transferred to the European Hospital east of the city in southern Gaza Strip. One of the injured is in serious conditions and medical teams are looking for more casualties from the attack, the sources said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the incident.

Israeli soldiers often shoot at people on suspicion that they are approaching the heavily fortified buffer zone along the border between the coastal strip and Israel.

Israeli warplanes launched two raids early Sunday targeting tunnels southern Gaza Strip, during which one person was injured, after a rocket struck in the city of Ashkelon, in southern Israel, causing no casualties but damaging property.

Israeli warplanes launched air strikes inside the Gaza Strip after the launch of the missile on Ashkelon, which killed a Hamas official, and wounded ten people.

A girl killed by Israeli forces in the Israeli offensive on Gaza Strip 08-09. (Al Jazeera)

Israel has carried out a devastating war on the Gaza Strip between 27 December and 18 January, 2009 with a stated goal of putting an end to rocket fire from Gaza. This war led to the death of more than 1400 Palestinians, among them 431 children and 116 women.

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Israeli soldiers watch as settler assaults Hebron resident

Israeli soldiers stand by as settlers scuffle with Palestinians near the West Bank
city of Hebron on 22 May 2009. [MaanImages/Mamoun Wazwaz]

Soldiers watched as a settler harassed a Palestinian man near the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement on Friday afternoon, Hebron’s Youth Against Settlements group reported.

When the man became angry and yelled back at the group, he was assaulted and sustained severe bruises, the report said.

The youth group said the man targeted in the assault was Anan Ja’bari, who lives adjacent to the settlement in the Old City of Hebron.


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Israeli army shelling kills two in Lebanon

Clashes erupted after an Israeli patrol incursion in Lebanese territory (AFP)

ADAYSSEH, Lebanon – The Israeli army shelled Lebanese military bases on the Lebanese-Israeli border on Tuesday.

A Lebanese civilian and a soldier were killed and five were wounded after the Israeli army fired artillery shells near a southern Lebanese border village, security sources and witnesses said.

The clashes erupted after an Israeli military incursion in Lebanese territory; the Lebanese army tried to prevent them, the Israeli army then fired artillery shells at the Lebanese soldiers.

The Lebanese army then fired back, the Israeli army then responded by shelling two houses and military bases in Adaysseh village, southern Lebanon.

The Associated Press reported that one Lebanese soldier and one civilian were wounded.

Reuters reported that the Israeli army fired rockets at locations in Lebanese territory on the border.


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