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News
YAYASAN AL-QUDS MALAYSIA
Zionis panjangkan waktu bagi pendatang Yahudi ceroboh masuk al-Aqsa
5 Dis 2016 Haluanpalestin
Menurut perjanjian di antara rejim Zionis dan kerajaan Jordan pada tahun 1967, walaupun orang bukan Islam dibenarkan memasuki perkarangan masjid, mereka tidak dibenar melakukan apa-apa ritual atau aktiviti keagamaan.
Pihak polis Zionis hari ini memutuskan untuk memanjangkan lagi waktu bagi pendatang Yahudi dan orang bukan Islam menceroboh masuk ke perakarangan Masjid al-Aqsa. Pendatang Yahudi yang sentiasa diiringi oleh pasukan keselamatan Sebelum ini mereka hanya dibe- bersenjata bagaimanapun sernarkan berada di tapak suci umat ing mengambil kesempatan untu Islam itu sehingga jam 7:30 pagi. menghasut para jemaah dengan Kini tempoh itu dilanjutkan seh- melakukan ritual Talmud di perkaingga jam 11:00 pagi. rangan al-Aqsa.
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News
YAYASAN AL-QUDS MALAYSIA
Netanyahu tangguh undang-undang mengiktiraf pos penempatan haram sehingga Trump ambil alih kepimpinan Amerika
9 Dis 2016 Haluanpalestin Pemimpin Zionis Benjamin Netanyahu dan ketua parti pelampau Jewish Home, Naftelli Bennet, berpakat untuk menangguhkan persetujuan ke atas rang undang-undang mengiktiraf pos penempatan haram Yahudi sehingga selepas Donald Trump mengambil alih jawatan Presiden Amerika daripada Donald Trump pada bulan Januari akan datang. Rang undang-undang tersebut telah mendapat persetujuan dalam undian pusingan pertama, di mana sekitar 55 pos penempatan haram yang dibina di atas tanah Palestin di Tebing Barat akan diiktiraf dan diakui sah, melibatkan 4,000 unit perumahan yang sebelum ini mereka sendiri anggap sebagai haram. Rejim Zionis juga mengiktiraf pemilikan Yahudi ke atas tanah kebun penduduk Palestin yang dirampas atas status “tanah yang ditinggalkan,� iaitu tanah milik penduduk Palestin yang dihalau keluar secara kekerasan.
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News
YAYASAN AL-QUDS MALAYSIA
Parlimen Zionis tangguh undian deraf undang-undang haramkan azan untuk kali ke-3
7 Dis 2016 Haluanpalestin
Parlimen Zionis, Knesset, hari ini buat kali ketiga menangguhkan undian ke atas deraf undang-undang bagi mengharamkan laungan azan menggunakan pembesar suara di semua masjid dalam seluruh wilayah Palestin 1948 yang terjajah.
pun Ahli Parlimen dari Arab Joint List, Ahmed Tibi, berpendapat ianya disebabkan oleh perbezaan pendapat dalaman parti pemerintah Zionis sendiri, di samping pendirian Presiden Zionis Reuven Rivlin yang tidak bersetuju undang-undang tersebut. “Ianya hanyalah satu penangguhan, bukan pembatalan sepenuhnya deraf tersebut,� kata Ahmed Tibi.
Alasan penangguhan tersebut tidak dijelaskan. Bagaiman- Media
Zionis
mel-
aporkan penangguhan tersebut dibuat selepas Perdana Menteri Zionis Benjamin Netanyahu membuat cadangan supaya pengharaman laungan azan dikenakan pada setiap masa, bukan hanya di waktu malam. Presiden Zionis dilaporkan cuba menggugurkan deraf undang-undang tersebut berikutan permintaan daripada Presiden Turki, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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News
YAYASAN AL-QUDS MALAYSIA
Pekerja Jabatan Wakaf diharamkan masuk al-Aqsa
12 Dis 2016 Haluanpalestin Polis penjajah Zionis hari ini mengharamkan pekerja Jabatan Wakaf Hussam Seder, 29, daripada memasuki Masjid al-Aqsa selama enam bulan, selepas disoal siasat selam lebih dua jam di stesen polis Qishleh, barat al-Quds. Polis mendakwa kehadiran Hussam di Masjid al-Aqsa membawa ancaman ke atas tapak suci umat Islam itu. Beliau sebelum ini pernah beberapa kali diharamkan memasuki al-Aqsa, dengan jumlah tempoh larangan selama tiga tahun. Ketika beliau tidak berada di rumah polis Zionis memecah masuk rumah beliau di Kota Lama dan membuat rakaman video di dalamnya tanpa memberi sebarang alasan.
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News
YAYASAN AL-QUDS MALAYSIA
Pengurus ICRC desak hentikan sekatan ke atas Gaza
8 Dis 2016 Haluanpalestin Pengurus Jawatankuasa Antarabangsa Palang Merah (ICRC) Mamadou Sow dalam kenyataan media belau hari ini menyebut bahawa sekatan yang dikenakan oleh “pihak berkuasa negara jiran” telah menghalang proses pembinaan semula wilayah Gaza yang terkepung.
Menurut beliau, Gaza tidak perlu bergantung kepada bantuan luar, tetapi mereka harus diberi peluang untuk membina semula. Sekatan ke atas Gaza tidak akan membawa kestabilan. Mamadou menejlaskan bahawa ICRC masih berunding dengan negara jiran Gaza berkenaan sekatan yang berlarutan sejak 10 tahun itu.
“Gaza mempunyai kebolehan yang sangat tinggi, tetapi sekatan ini menghalang mereka daripada melalui kehidupan yang normal,” kata beliau. Akibat sekatan, kadar pengangguran di Gaza adalah paling tinggi di dunia pada 43%, mankala40% daripada penduduknya hidup di bawah paras kemiskinan.
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Infographic
Discriminatory water supply The Palestinian Information Center
The Oslo Accords perpetuated the discrimination in allocation of water between Israel and the Palestinians. They allotted 80% of the water pumped from the mountain aquifer – one of three underground water reserves shared by Israel and the Palestinians – to Israel and only 20% to the Palestinians. They Accords further established there would be no cap to the supply of water to Israelis, whereas the water supply to Palestinians would be limited to predetermined amounts, namely approximately 118 million cubic meters (mcm) from drilling points active prior to the signing of the Accords and another 70-80 mcm or so from new ones. Due to the inequitable distribution, Palestinians must make do with less water than Israelis. The World Health Organization and USAID both recommend 100 liters of water per person/per day. This amount includes is not only for domestic use but includes supply to hospitals, schools, businesses, and other public institutions. Palestinian average daily consumption of water is more than 20% lower than the recommended amount.
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Article
BDS is not the only tactic against Israel, but it is working
By Ben White
the European Union and nation- prevent the application of any al governments for the right to sort of pressure whatsoever, This week, the BDS National boycott (despite Israeli efforts as we also saw this past week. Committee (BNC) published to equate such campaigning a round-up of campaigning with illegitimate hate speech). Tom Watson’s 'moral' stance for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel Highlighting the decision by the Take Tom Watson, deputy leadduring 2016, including a sum- UN Human Rights Council to es- er of Britain's Labour Party, mary of "the most significant tablish a database of companies who used a speech at the Westindicators of direct and indirect "complicit in and profiting from minster-based lobby group LaBDS impact in various fields". Israel's occupation regime," bour Friends of Israel to deIntroducing the timeline, the the BNC notes that "the logic scribe the fight against BDS BNC noted how progress over of appeasing Israel’s regime of as a "moral obligation" – even the past year has occurred in the oppression has started giving "a commandment". Watson, it face of intensified Israeli state way to the logic of sustained seems, has decided to enthuefforts to undermine, attack and international pressure, which siastically ally himself with sabotage the BDS movement. proved instrumental in end- the jailer and bulldozer against ing apartheid in South Africa". the human rights defender Despite this, the BNC points out, and forcibly displaced farmer. campaigners have seen success- This is the key to the argument es in activism targeting major for BDS – the logic of pressure Meanwhile, Michael Oren, multinationals, churches, city replacing the logic of appease- deputy minister for public dicouncils and student groups, as ment. But Israel and its friends plomacy in Benjamin Netanyawell as securing the support of are as determined as ever to hu's government of settlement
Article cheerleaders and nationalist demagogues, slammed France's decision to make it obligatory to correctly label produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. For Oren, this modest measure was reminiscent of the Dreyfus affair and France's Nazi-allied Vichy regime. Yet no matter how extreme the rhetoric gets, or how shameless the smears become, the case for BDS remains as straightforward and compelling as it always has been. It is based on the reality of Israel's longstanding, systematic violations of international law and human rights, on the call for solidarity from Palestinian civil society groups, and its value as a tactic. The clarity of the case for BDS stands in stark contrast to the stagnation afflicting other potential arenas for advancing Palestinian rights, both internal and external. Statement fatigue At Fatah's long-awaited conference in Ramallah this past week, it was business as usual, despite the various and serious challenges awaiting novel solutions, both inside the party and with respect to the bleak picture faced by the Palestinian national movement more broadly. Fatah's conference opened on the United Nations' annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon marked with a run-of-
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recognition of a Palestinian state. While it is not a case of "either or," I would suggest that the most strategic way to direct energies is at an intensification But their statements mere- and expansion of the BDS camly highlight how, through the paign, in all its constituent parts. yawning disparity between UN resolutions and action, through For example, a boycott of setthe embrace of a "both sides" tlement produce should be built conflict resolution discourse, on and expanded, since it is the and by creating an enabling Israeli state and various instituenvironment for Israel to vi- tions (financial, academic, etc) olate Palestinian rights with that are either directly responimpunity, international dip- sible for, or complicit in, the illomats are a long way from legal colonisation of Palestinian showing meaningful solidarity. land, the apartheid regime in the West Bank and the forced disBDS, it should be emphasised, placement of a stateless people. is just one tactic. The revitalisation of the Palestinian naPressure on governments tional movement, the fate of the Palestinian Authority, and the It is also vital to make the case use of the UN as a forum for to our governments for pressure strategic gains, are all impera- on Israel, rather than endless tives independent of the glob- "engagement" and raising of al, civil society-driven boycott "concerns," especially on issues campaign. BDS can only do so where Israel has demonstrated much, but it is also something that it is simply unwilling to end that can, and must, be done. grave human rights abuses and war crimes – such as child prisYear of anniversaries oners and settlement expansion. The arms trade, and the demand There are three big anniversaries for an embargo, is similarly a senext year: the Balfour Declara- rious issue that directly impacts tion centenary (the mourning/ on Israel's ability to control and celebration of which has already brutalise the Palestinian people. begun); 50 years of Israel’s military occupation of the West In short, BDS offers specific, Bank and Gaza Strip in June; concrete campaigns. As well as and 70 years since the adop- having useful goals in and of tion of the UN Partition Plan. themselves, this helps advance that logic of pressure which, irWithout a doubt, many will respective of other political defeel like the best response to velopments, must shape the inthis "red-letter year" is to cam- ternational approach to Israel's paign for, and demand, apol- ongoing occupation and apartogies or measures such as the heid regime. the-mill statement. UN peace process official Nickolay Mladenov, meanwhile, addressed the Fatah meeting in person.
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Article
Israel is keen to evict Palestinians of Acre Palestinian residents of the old city of Acre are fighting to keep their identity and property in spite of rapid gentrification
I believe the future of Acre will look like the future of Jaffa,” says Abu-Raya. “This means most of the Arab population will be displaced.”
Jenny Nyman
evidence of continuous set- nally displaced” Palestinians. tlement dating back as far as Forced to leave their towns Palestinians of the Old City 4,000 years. and villages in 1948, they nevof Acre in northern Israel face ertheless remained within the continuous, intensifying strug- Due to its rich history, com- borders of Israel and now form gle against Israeli displace- bining Arab, Crusader and part of the 1.5 million Palesment plans. Ottoman heritage, it was des- tinian population that hold Isignated a UNESCO World raeli citizenship. As the Palestinian identity and Heritage site in 2001. heritage of the Old City are Forced displacement gradually obscured, local res- During the Israeli invaidents are forced to leave in sion of Acre in 1948, around As the population fled, the maorder to make way for wealthy three-quarters of the majority jority of homes in the Old City investors and tourism projects. Palestinian population in the of Acre were confiscated by city were displaced. Israel in 1948 and placed unLocated on the Mediterrader the control of Amidar Nanean coast in northern Israel, Today, most of the residents tional Housing Company. the port city of Acre is one of inside the historic walls of the the oldest in the region, with old city are so-called “inter-
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Article
Until today, most of these buildings are administered by Amidar, which rents them to local residents. “Amidar plays a major role when it comes to displacing the Palestinian population from the old city,” says lawyer Jihad abu-Raya. For instance, Amidar often refuses to issue permits for residents to make renovations or fix safety hazards. And when they do issue renovation permits, these are conditioned on residents contracting specific companies that charge extortionate prices. Eventually the homes are declared “unsafe” to live in and residents are evicted. The buildings are later put on the private market at prices the local population can only dream of affording, he explains. Amidar has also been known to fail in collecting rent from its tenants for several years, accumulating large debts that the impoverished residents are unable to pay. Although exact numbers are not available, Abu-Raya estimates that the total population in the old city has already decreased from 8,000 to around 3,000 in the last 20 years, and there are currently more than 200 eviction orders on homes in the area.
to sell and move out. While the wave of gentrification sweeping over the Old City has seen housing prices skyrocket, the local population also struggles with socio-economic difficulties and substandard services.
brings funds and investment for large-scale development projects, mostly carried out by Israeli or international companies. Although the stated objectives of the Acre Development Company includes “[enabling] high quality residential and living conditions for the population of Old Acre,” the reality on the ground looks different.
Many are therefore tempted to sell their properties. “People are made to feel this place is not worth much, and they do not see that they are selling a real treasure,” says Hazar Hijazi who grew up in the old The Palestinian residents rarecity. ly feel the benefits of the development projects carried out Jordan conceded to Israel in the city. Instead, they find their heritage and way of life The Old City of Acre also purposely obscured by an Isholds a number of important raeli-controlled tourism indushistoric and religious sites, try, and their businesses are which were placed under the starved of customers as they protection of the Islamic Waqf struggle to compete with those in 1948. targeting wealthy tourists. However, the Waqf subsequently handed over control of a large part of these sites to the Acre Development Company, which operates under the authority of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and drives a strong agenda for setting the Old City of Acre up as an exclusive tourist destination. Plans include developing highend shops and restaurants, and turning historic sites such as the Khan al-Umdan into large luxury hotels.
The World Heritage Site staEven those who own their tus granted by UNESCO properties face strong pressure also furthers these plans as it
“Israeli tour guides make deals with restaurant owners who are willing to pay them to bring in groups of tourists for a meal,” one local owner of a small restaurant laments. “So the guides eat a free meal and make money all at once, while we lose our business.” As Palestinians continue to hold on to their culture and what they have left, the Old City of Acre is changing rapidly. “I believe the future of Acre will look like the future of Jaffa,” says Abu-Raya. “This means most of the Arab population will be displaced.”