26 sept 2019
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) set up an iron gate at the entrance of a separate wall near the Barta’a checkpoint in southern Jenin.
According to local sources, the gate is intended to prevent famers from reaching their olive groves.
There are hundreds of permanent and makeshift IOF checkpoints across the West Bank, which isolates Palestinian cities and towns from each other and obstructs the movement of local residents.
According to local sources, the gate is intended to prevent famers from reaching their olive groves.
There are hundreds of permanent and makeshift IOF checkpoints across the West Bank, which isolates Palestinian cities and towns from each other and obstructs the movement of local residents.
25 sept 2019
Israeli soldiers gather at the scene where a Palestinian was shot dead near a check point in the the West Bank city of Hebron on 3 September 2018
Images of Palestinians girls or women lying in the middle of the road with blood seeping from their heads have become “normal” since the autumn of 2015.
Women, children and men have all become victims to be added to the growing body of statistics that the global media never stops to consider when reporting on this most asymmetric of conflicts.
They are the victims of the field executions committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians — women, children and men — at the humiliating and frequently fatal military checkpoints imposed across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The tragedy of these victims does not end with the hastily-fired gunshots; the wounded and dying are left to bleed while the soldiers sip their coffee and go about their regular activities, after “neutralising” the alleged threat.
Images and videos circulated on social media demonstrate that Israeli soldiers and police officers do little to try to arrest suspected criminals; they shoot first and, maybe, ask questions later.
It is obvious from the evidence that they are too keen to pull the trigger and shoot a target who could be as young as their own children or as old as their mothers.
It is even more of a tragedy that the victim is rarely named until hours or even days later, placing major psychological pressure on the community who have no real idea if a relative or friend has been shot and killed.
Last week, on 18 September to be precise, a Palestinian woman called Nayfa Ali Ka’abna, aged 50, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. tweet
She was named officially four days after she was basically executed at the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem. After she was shot, she was left on the side of the road in a growing pool of blood for some time.
To understand what happened to Nayfa, it is worth looking at the growing phenomenon of field executions over the past four years.
Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun was crossing through an Israeli military checkpoint in Hebron on 22 September, 2015, when she was shot. The Israeli narrative claimed that the 18 year old did not comply with the order to stop and therefore posed a danger to the soldiers.
The young woman was in her first year of university, and was known in the local neighbourhoods for her solidarity with Palestinian families affected by settler harassment. She had to cross the checkpoints repeatedly for this purpose.
On the day of the deadly attack, two soldiers ordered her to stop and then fired at least 10 bullets at her from their automatic rifles. Hadeel fell to the ground after being hit by the first bullet, but the soldiers continued to fire at her. Most of the bullets hit her chest and upper body.
The Israeli occupation army immediately claimed, as usual, that the young woman had tried to attack the soldiers with a knife, and that the heavily-armed soldiers acted “according to protocol” as their lives were in danger. Many pictures surfaced on social media proving the Israeli claim to be false.
The reality of this heinous murder was documented by a passer-by; the two soldiers opened fire on Hadeel from a distance of 4 metres and no knife was seen. The brutality of the attack was escalated by the fact that she was left on the ground for about half an hour after being shot.
Journalist Amira Hass reported the details of the crime in Haaretz on 3 November, 2015, based on documented facts which disprove the army’s narrative.
Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun’s family took the case to court, but the Israeli judicial system ensured that the army and its soldiers were acquitted, as usually happens. The family appealed, but the result was the same.
The case was closed in February 2019, with the soldiers acquitted of all charges. This was no surprise; the so-called Israeli “Defence” Forces’ story is normally accepted as the truth without question.
The world ignored the tragedy of Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun at the time, giving the occupation authorities a tacit green light to continue the field executions on the pretext that the victims “pose a danger to the lives of soldiers”.
Killing Palestinians in this way has become a recurring fact of life protected by carefully woven justifications. However, the idea of a fruit knife held by a schoolgirl, shining from afar, actually posing a threat to the lives of a group of armed soldiers wearing body armour just doesn’t ring true.
Moreover, firing numerous bullets at a girl, woman, man or boy and at a part of the body where death is almost certain to result suggests that Israeli soldiers have little or no regard for Palestinian lives.
The official Israeli version of field executions is simply not credible. It is now a fact, though, that any Palestinian going about their lawful business can expect to be shot at random if they are on foot at a military checkpoint. Make a wrong move or display any “unusual behaviour” — a very loosely-defined term — and they can face a lethal volley of bullets.
This poses an even bigger threat to those with hearing or visual impairments, or those who do not understand the gestures or orders yelled by soldiers and police officers, not least due to the different language and means of expression.
Israel’s military checkpoints may now be rooted deeply in Palestinian life, but they remain a threat to those with mental health issues or other communication difficulties. If someone has a seizure or fit at one of these checkpoints, they could pay for it with their life.
Given the number of these incidents, the Palestinians are convinced that the occupation authorities do not hesitate to justify any field execution committed by their security forces even before any investigation can take place — if it takes place at all.
The killers are not above planting a knife next to the victims lying on the ground to “prove” their dishonest narrative.
Furthermore, even if a schoolgirl is holding a knife with the intention of attacking the fully trained and armed soldiers, why are they incapable of disarming her? Shooting her when she is well beyond arms’ reach looks like an extremely disproportionate response.
As the list of “knife-wielding attackers” shot dead grows longer, how many of their intended victims were actually killed? None whatsoever.
What is certain in all of this, is that the Israeli occupation forces are able to kill Palestinians at will, and get away with it.
The uncomfortable truth absent from the propaganda pushed out by Israel and its supporters is that the killers of dozens of indigenous Palestinian men, women and children in field executions across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in recent years are actually members of an occupation army violating international law; they don’t deserve our sympathy.
It is their victims who live — and die — under military occupation and oppression and are deserving of whatever we can do to help them. tweet
Field executions are one of the “sovereign manifestations” that the Israeli occupation forces have monopolised at their many checkpoints intended to disrupt Palestinians in their daily lives. They impede freedom of movement, cause humiliation and provide opportunities for arrest and, as we have seen, murder.
Such serious violations led a number of anti-occupation Israelis to form a human rights group a few years ago to monitor what the security forces are doing at the checkpoints. It is called Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, but the Israeli government is busy cracking down on groups like this one, claiming that they are “working against the state” and discrediting them.
Before we accept the Israeli excuses for the killing of Palestinians at the checkpoints, we must acknowledge the presence of occupation forces in the Palestinian territories; and that the deployment of heavily-armed troops to direct and disrupt everyday life poses a real and present threat to ordinary Palestinians of all ages, male and female alike.
No reasonable human being, let alone a member of a brutal occupation army and oppressive regime, can expect people who are deprived of their liberty, independence and control of their land and resources to pass around flowers to the soldiers who spend their days humiliating, torturing and killing them.
The Palestinians don’t need anyone to incite them to act against the occupation forces; Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied territories do that job perfectly well without any need for any input from anyone else.
The dozens of children and young people shot and killed by the occupation forces at checkpoints were eyewitnesses to the murder, arbitrary arrests, intimidation and humiliation of their families, friends and fellow citizens.
Ignoring the field executions that have taken place encourages the Israeli occupation soldiers to carry on shooting at will; we all appear to be immune to the sight of a Palestinian lying in a pool of blood for no apparent reason other than the ongoing Israeli propaganda about “incitement” and “knife attacks”.
Nayfeh Ka’abna was the latest in a growing line of victims like Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun whose blood was shed and allowed to flow into the gutter so callously by young men and women armed to the teeth with the latest weapons and ammunition.
These women were yet more victims of Israel and its ongoing occupation that the world does not care about.
Images of Palestinians girls or women lying in the middle of the road with blood seeping from their heads have become “normal” since the autumn of 2015.
Women, children and men have all become victims to be added to the growing body of statistics that the global media never stops to consider when reporting on this most asymmetric of conflicts.
They are the victims of the field executions committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians — women, children and men — at the humiliating and frequently fatal military checkpoints imposed across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The tragedy of these victims does not end with the hastily-fired gunshots; the wounded and dying are left to bleed while the soldiers sip their coffee and go about their regular activities, after “neutralising” the alleged threat.
Images and videos circulated on social media demonstrate that Israeli soldiers and police officers do little to try to arrest suspected criminals; they shoot first and, maybe, ask questions later.
It is obvious from the evidence that they are too keen to pull the trigger and shoot a target who could be as young as their own children or as old as their mothers.
It is even more of a tragedy that the victim is rarely named until hours or even days later, placing major psychological pressure on the community who have no real idea if a relative or friend has been shot and killed.
Last week, on 18 September to be precise, a Palestinian woman called Nayfa Ali Ka’abna, aged 50, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. tweet
She was named officially four days after she was basically executed at the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem. After she was shot, she was left on the side of the road in a growing pool of blood for some time.
To understand what happened to Nayfa, it is worth looking at the growing phenomenon of field executions over the past four years.
Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun was crossing through an Israeli military checkpoint in Hebron on 22 September, 2015, when she was shot. The Israeli narrative claimed that the 18 year old did not comply with the order to stop and therefore posed a danger to the soldiers.
The young woman was in her first year of university, and was known in the local neighbourhoods for her solidarity with Palestinian families affected by settler harassment. She had to cross the checkpoints repeatedly for this purpose.
On the day of the deadly attack, two soldiers ordered her to stop and then fired at least 10 bullets at her from their automatic rifles. Hadeel fell to the ground after being hit by the first bullet, but the soldiers continued to fire at her. Most of the bullets hit her chest and upper body.
The Israeli occupation army immediately claimed, as usual, that the young woman had tried to attack the soldiers with a knife, and that the heavily-armed soldiers acted “according to protocol” as their lives were in danger. Many pictures surfaced on social media proving the Israeli claim to be false.
The reality of this heinous murder was documented by a passer-by; the two soldiers opened fire on Hadeel from a distance of 4 metres and no knife was seen. The brutality of the attack was escalated by the fact that she was left on the ground for about half an hour after being shot.
Journalist Amira Hass reported the details of the crime in Haaretz on 3 November, 2015, based on documented facts which disprove the army’s narrative.
Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun’s family took the case to court, but the Israeli judicial system ensured that the army and its soldiers were acquitted, as usually happens. The family appealed, but the result was the same.
The case was closed in February 2019, with the soldiers acquitted of all charges. This was no surprise; the so-called Israeli “Defence” Forces’ story is normally accepted as the truth without question.
The world ignored the tragedy of Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun at the time, giving the occupation authorities a tacit green light to continue the field executions on the pretext that the victims “pose a danger to the lives of soldiers”.
Killing Palestinians in this way has become a recurring fact of life protected by carefully woven justifications. However, the idea of a fruit knife held by a schoolgirl, shining from afar, actually posing a threat to the lives of a group of armed soldiers wearing body armour just doesn’t ring true.
Moreover, firing numerous bullets at a girl, woman, man or boy and at a part of the body where death is almost certain to result suggests that Israeli soldiers have little or no regard for Palestinian lives.
The official Israeli version of field executions is simply not credible. It is now a fact, though, that any Palestinian going about their lawful business can expect to be shot at random if they are on foot at a military checkpoint. Make a wrong move or display any “unusual behaviour” — a very loosely-defined term — and they can face a lethal volley of bullets.
This poses an even bigger threat to those with hearing or visual impairments, or those who do not understand the gestures or orders yelled by soldiers and police officers, not least due to the different language and means of expression.
Israel’s military checkpoints may now be rooted deeply in Palestinian life, but they remain a threat to those with mental health issues or other communication difficulties. If someone has a seizure or fit at one of these checkpoints, they could pay for it with their life.
Given the number of these incidents, the Palestinians are convinced that the occupation authorities do not hesitate to justify any field execution committed by their security forces even before any investigation can take place — if it takes place at all.
The killers are not above planting a knife next to the victims lying on the ground to “prove” their dishonest narrative.
Furthermore, even if a schoolgirl is holding a knife with the intention of attacking the fully trained and armed soldiers, why are they incapable of disarming her? Shooting her when she is well beyond arms’ reach looks like an extremely disproportionate response.
As the list of “knife-wielding attackers” shot dead grows longer, how many of their intended victims were actually killed? None whatsoever.
What is certain in all of this, is that the Israeli occupation forces are able to kill Palestinians at will, and get away with it.
The uncomfortable truth absent from the propaganda pushed out by Israel and its supporters is that the killers of dozens of indigenous Palestinian men, women and children in field executions across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in recent years are actually members of an occupation army violating international law; they don’t deserve our sympathy.
It is their victims who live — and die — under military occupation and oppression and are deserving of whatever we can do to help them. tweet
Field executions are one of the “sovereign manifestations” that the Israeli occupation forces have monopolised at their many checkpoints intended to disrupt Palestinians in their daily lives. They impede freedom of movement, cause humiliation and provide opportunities for arrest and, as we have seen, murder.
Such serious violations led a number of anti-occupation Israelis to form a human rights group a few years ago to monitor what the security forces are doing at the checkpoints. It is called Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, but the Israeli government is busy cracking down on groups like this one, claiming that they are “working against the state” and discrediting them.
Before we accept the Israeli excuses for the killing of Palestinians at the checkpoints, we must acknowledge the presence of occupation forces in the Palestinian territories; and that the deployment of heavily-armed troops to direct and disrupt everyday life poses a real and present threat to ordinary Palestinians of all ages, male and female alike.
No reasonable human being, let alone a member of a brutal occupation army and oppressive regime, can expect people who are deprived of their liberty, independence and control of their land and resources to pass around flowers to the soldiers who spend their days humiliating, torturing and killing them.
The Palestinians don’t need anyone to incite them to act against the occupation forces; Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied territories do that job perfectly well without any need for any input from anyone else.
The dozens of children and young people shot and killed by the occupation forces at checkpoints were eyewitnesses to the murder, arbitrary arrests, intimidation and humiliation of their families, friends and fellow citizens.
Ignoring the field executions that have taken place encourages the Israeli occupation soldiers to carry on shooting at will; we all appear to be immune to the sight of a Palestinian lying in a pool of blood for no apparent reason other than the ongoing Israeli propaganda about “incitement” and “knife attacks”.
Nayfeh Ka’abna was the latest in a growing line of victims like Hadeel Al-Hashlamoun whose blood was shed and allowed to flow into the gutter so callously by young men and women armed to the teeth with the latest weapons and ammunition.
These women were yet more victims of Israel and its ongoing occupation that the world does not care about.
24 sept 2019
The Israeli occupation authorities have announced that the Gaza Strip and West Bank crossings will be closed for several days starting Sunday, 29 September, over Jewish holidays.
The General Administration of Crossings and Borders said in press statements that Karam Abu Salem crossing, southeast of the Gaza Strip, will be closed for three days starting next Sunday, and work will be resumed at the border crossing on Wednesday, 2 October.
Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, north of the Gaza Strip, will also be closed during the same period. Palestinian individuals will not be able to pass through the crossing unless they have emergency cases.
As for al-Karama crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, the crossing will be opened for certain hours only during the three-day holiday. On Sunday it will remain open until 10:30 am, while on Monday and Tuesday it will be closed at 5:00 pm.
The General Administration of Crossings and Borders said in press statements that Karam Abu Salem crossing, southeast of the Gaza Strip, will be closed for three days starting next Sunday, and work will be resumed at the border crossing on Wednesday, 2 October.
Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, north of the Gaza Strip, will also be closed during the same period. Palestinian individuals will not be able to pass through the crossing unless they have emergency cases.
As for al-Karama crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, the crossing will be opened for certain hours only during the three-day holiday. On Sunday it will remain open until 10:30 am, while on Monday and Tuesday it will be closed at 5:00 pm.
23 sept 2019
Under the Palestinian Football Association’s terms, the winners of the Gaza league play the West Bank champions in a two-leg final, one in the Gaza Strip and one which was due to take place near Nablus, in the West Bank
Israel has denied travel permits to most players on a Gazan soccer team which had hoped to cross through Israel and into the West Bank to play a local championship final against a rival Palestinian club.
Khadamat Rafah is set to play Balata FC in the West Bank on Wednesday. But without the hard-to-obtain Israeli travel permits, the game is unlikely to take place as scheduled.
“We think that this is clear evidence that this Israeli occupation is cruel but from our side we keep raising it at all the levels of FIFA.
We insist that this is our right and we’ll continue exerting every effort to allow this team to do this match,” the head of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, told The Associated Press.
The soccer team’s predicament highlights the daily difficulties Gazans face under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, imposed after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.
Citing security grounds, Israel has greatly restricted movement of Gazans and requires travelers such as students and medical patients to obtain permits to leave.
Critics say these are increasingly harder to come by and are withheld arbitrarily.
Israel disputes this and says it grants tens of thousands of permits for Gazans with no militant ties.
Rajoub said his association has long lobbied FIFA to sanction Israel for what it says are its efforts to restrict the movement of Palestinian players. He slammed the withholding of permits and pledged to hold the game.
Under the Palestinian Football Association’s terms, the winners of the Gaza league play the West Bank champions in a two-leg final, one in the Gaza Strip and one in the West Bank.
The Gaza game took place earlier this year and this week’s game, which had already been delayed for two months over access to permits, was to take place near the West Bank city of Nablus.
The winner of the final game goes on to compete in the Asian Champions League.
Following the Gaza game, Khadamat Rafah had attempted for two months to obtain permits but its two requests were denied, except for a handful of club members.
“We are a club carrying messages of love and peace and have no security activities as the occupation (Israel) claims,” said Hozayfa Lafi, Khadamat Rafah’s spokesman.
Gisha, an Israeli rights group that had challenged the move in court, criticized Israel’s permit system.
“The ease with which the state labels Palestinians as a security threat turns out to be time and again an arbitrary and sweeping act, while in the best case ignoring the serious harm that is dealt to the fabric of civilian life in the Palestinian territory,” said Gisha, an Israeli rights group that had challenged the state’s decision along with the players.
A court in Jerusalem upheld the state’s decision on Monday.
In a statement, Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency, which screens permit requests, said a security check turned up information pointing to “most” of the team’s “links to terrorism.” That, coupled with heightened security threats from the Gaza Strip, prompted the agency to recommend the players be prevented entry.
Cogat, an Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said every permit request is examined “individually and thoroughly.”
The Palestine Cup had been suspended for years until 2016 when FIFA reached understandings between Israel and the Palestinians over the movement of athletes.
Tournaments in 2017 and 2018 took place as planned.
Israel has denied travel permits to most players on a Gazan soccer team which had hoped to cross through Israel and into the West Bank to play a local championship final against a rival Palestinian club.
Khadamat Rafah is set to play Balata FC in the West Bank on Wednesday. But without the hard-to-obtain Israeli travel permits, the game is unlikely to take place as scheduled.
“We think that this is clear evidence that this Israeli occupation is cruel but from our side we keep raising it at all the levels of FIFA.
We insist that this is our right and we’ll continue exerting every effort to allow this team to do this match,” the head of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, told The Associated Press.
The soccer team’s predicament highlights the daily difficulties Gazans face under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, imposed after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.
Citing security grounds, Israel has greatly restricted movement of Gazans and requires travelers such as students and medical patients to obtain permits to leave.
Critics say these are increasingly harder to come by and are withheld arbitrarily.
Israel disputes this and says it grants tens of thousands of permits for Gazans with no militant ties.
Rajoub said his association has long lobbied FIFA to sanction Israel for what it says are its efforts to restrict the movement of Palestinian players. He slammed the withholding of permits and pledged to hold the game.
Under the Palestinian Football Association’s terms, the winners of the Gaza league play the West Bank champions in a two-leg final, one in the Gaza Strip and one in the West Bank.
The Gaza game took place earlier this year and this week’s game, which had already been delayed for two months over access to permits, was to take place near the West Bank city of Nablus.
The winner of the final game goes on to compete in the Asian Champions League.
Following the Gaza game, Khadamat Rafah had attempted for two months to obtain permits but its two requests were denied, except for a handful of club members.
“We are a club carrying messages of love and peace and have no security activities as the occupation (Israel) claims,” said Hozayfa Lafi, Khadamat Rafah’s spokesman.
Gisha, an Israeli rights group that had challenged the move in court, criticized Israel’s permit system.
“The ease with which the state labels Palestinians as a security threat turns out to be time and again an arbitrary and sweeping act, while in the best case ignoring the serious harm that is dealt to the fabric of civilian life in the Palestinian territory,” said Gisha, an Israeli rights group that had challenged the state’s decision along with the players.
A court in Jerusalem upheld the state’s decision on Monday.
In a statement, Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency, which screens permit requests, said a security check turned up information pointing to “most” of the team’s “links to terrorism.” That, coupled with heightened security threats from the Gaza Strip, prompted the agency to recommend the players be prevented entry.
Cogat, an Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said every permit request is examined “individually and thoroughly.”
The Palestine Cup had been suspended for years until 2016 when FIFA reached understandings between Israel and the Palestinians over the movement of athletes.
Tournaments in 2017 and 2018 took place as planned.
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MP Jamal al-Khudari, head of the Popular Committee against the Siege, has called on UN special coordinator Nickolay Mladenov to work on sending an airborne medical aid convoy to the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a press release on Sunday, MP Khudari described Mladenov’s warnings about the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza as “important and realistic but insufficient and in need of practical steps.” The head of the anti-siege committee appealed to Mladenov to instruct all UN and international health and humanitarian institutions to start sending medical supplies to Gaza by air |
He pointed out that about 50 percent of basic medicines and about 60 percent of medical consumables became completely out of stock in public hospitals, laboratories and blood banks.
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Israeli occupation forces on Monday morning attacked Palestinian farmers and fishermen in the Gaza Strip with no reported casualties.
Local sources told Quds Press that the Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian farmers working in their lands east of Khan Younis City in the southern Gaza Strip, but no injuries were reported. Meanwhile, off the shore of Beit Lahia town in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli gunboats heavily fired live ammunition at a group of Palestinian fishermen who survived the attack. |
22 sept 2019
Israeli soldiers prevented, on Saturday evening, a Palestinian farmer from plowing and working on his own land, and confiscated a bulldozer working on the land, in the al-Mintar area, in Kafr Thulth town, south of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia.
Hosni Odah, the mayor of Kafr Thulth, said the soldiers confiscated a bulldozer, owned by Ayman Ahmad Mara’ba, who was working on lands owned by Abdul-Latif Hasan Arar, who hired him to do the job.
Odah added that the soldiers forced the Palestinians out of the land, and closed with sand hills the agricultural road linking between Azzoun and Kafr Thulth and leading to al-‘Oyoun area in Wadi Qana.
It is worth mentioning that the road was recently opened to provide the Palestinian farmers an easier access route to their farmlands and orchards.
Hosni Odah, the mayor of Kafr Thulth, said the soldiers confiscated a bulldozer, owned by Ayman Ahmad Mara’ba, who was working on lands owned by Abdul-Latif Hasan Arar, who hired him to do the job.
Odah added that the soldiers forced the Palestinians out of the land, and closed with sand hills the agricultural road linking between Azzoun and Kafr Thulth and leading to al-‘Oyoun area in Wadi Qana.
It is worth mentioning that the road was recently opened to provide the Palestinian farmers an easier access route to their farmlands and orchards.
16 sept 2019
The Israeli occupation army will impose a complete closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip crossings during Tuesday's Knesset elections.
"Based on the security situation evaluation and directives of the political authority, a complete closure will be imposed on the West Bank areas and Gaza Strip crossings," a spokesman for the Israeli army said in a statement.
The army explained that the closure would begin at 12:00 a.m. Tuesday and last for 24 hours, pending a situational assessment.
"Based on the security situation evaluation and directives of the political authority, a complete closure will be imposed on the West Bank areas and Gaza Strip crossings," a spokesman for the Israeli army said in a statement.
The army explained that the closure would begin at 12:00 a.m. Tuesday and last for 24 hours, pending a situational assessment.
Several hours of blackout are expected to disrupt life in parts of the West Bank next Monday and Tuesday as the Israeli Electricity Company (IEC) intends to cut power supply to the Palestinian-owned Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO), today said JDECO chairman of board and CEO Hisham Omari.
He said his company has received the third warning from the IEC informing it that it will start rationing or cutting electricity supply to some of the company's concession areas on the 22nd of this month from 10 a.m. to 12 noon local time in the cities and districts of Ramallah and Bethlehem, and on the 23rd from 12 noon until 2:00 p.m. on parts of Ramallah and Jericho and their area villages.
Omari considered the IEC decision, supported by the Israeli government, as “collective punishment against the Palestinian people,” warning that if IEC goes on with its threat, it will have serious repercussions, particularly on hospitals, education, water supply, communications and many other vital areas.
JDECO buys its power supply from IEC and distribute it to hundreds of thousands of customers in its four concession areas that include East Jerusalem, Ramallah/Al-Bireh, Bethlehem and Jericho. IEC said JDECO owes it millions of dollars for purchased electricity.
Omari said the Palestinian Authority (PA) had an agreement with IEC regarding paying the debt in installments but that the Israeli company seems to have gone back on this agreement and decided to punish the Palestinian company and its customers for the outstanding debt.
He also called on the PA and its security and judicial authorities to take deterrent measures against the lagging customers who do not pay their bills and robbers who steal the current, which costs the company $45 million in lost revenues annually.
He said his company has received the third warning from the IEC informing it that it will start rationing or cutting electricity supply to some of the company's concession areas on the 22nd of this month from 10 a.m. to 12 noon local time in the cities and districts of Ramallah and Bethlehem, and on the 23rd from 12 noon until 2:00 p.m. on parts of Ramallah and Jericho and their area villages.
Omari considered the IEC decision, supported by the Israeli government, as “collective punishment against the Palestinian people,” warning that if IEC goes on with its threat, it will have serious repercussions, particularly on hospitals, education, water supply, communications and many other vital areas.
JDECO buys its power supply from IEC and distribute it to hundreds of thousands of customers in its four concession areas that include East Jerusalem, Ramallah/Al-Bireh, Bethlehem and Jericho. IEC said JDECO owes it millions of dollars for purchased electricity.
Omari said the Palestinian Authority (PA) had an agreement with IEC regarding paying the debt in installments but that the Israeli company seems to have gone back on this agreement and decided to punish the Palestinian company and its customers for the outstanding debt.
He also called on the PA and its security and judicial authorities to take deterrent measures against the lagging customers who do not pay their bills and robbers who steal the current, which costs the company $45 million in lost revenues annually.
