Beit-Sahour Blog

On Sunday, the Israeli High Court of Justice narrowly upheld a controversial law that effectively bars West Bank Palestinians from living with their spouses and children in Israel.

The Israeli online daily Haaretz reported that an expanded panel of 11 justices split 6-5 in rejecting petitions to overturn the law which was passed by the Knesset in 2002.

The law was strongly influenced by the current Intifada and the situation in the occupied territories; the conflict was at its height when the law was passed.

Haaretz added that the the case was seen as one of the most important questions the High Court of Justice has dealt with in recent years, especially after dozens of Palestinians married to Israelis filed petitions to annul an amendment to the Citizenship Law that prevents "family unifications".

The decision was observed as a clear message from the High Court stating the the State of Israel has “the right to prevent Palestinians living in the West Bank from living with their spouses and families in Israel”.

According to the newly passed law, only Palestinian women over the age of 25 and men over 35 are eligible to join their families in Israel, and eventually receive citizenship,   Haaretz added.

The Amnesty International slammed the law and called for its repeal, several critics of the law described it as racist and discriminatory.

Israeli state prosecution voiced satisfaction at Sunday's verdict, and claimed that the ruling was made “in order to protect Israel's security during time of war”.

High Court Justice Mishael Cheshin said that the law “does not harm Israelis' constitutional rights”,  and claimed that if the law does to some extent cause such harm, it was "measured."

Cheshin along with justices Miryam Naor, Asher Grunes, Yonatan Adiel, Eliezer Rivlin and Edmund Levy rejected the petitions.


Despite voting with the majority, Levy stated that the law indeed harmed the constitutional rights of family life and equality in Israel to an unnecessary extent.

He added that the state will be given a period of nine months to formulate an alternative legislative arrangement.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice, Aharon Barak, voted against the ruling along justices Dorit Beinish, Ayala Proccacia, Salim Jobran, and Esther Hayut.

Barak added that the decision to uphold the law steps on the civil rights of citizens.

The appeal was originally filed in August 2003 by the Legal Center For Arab Minority Rights In Israel (Adalah), The Society Human Rights, Arab members of Knesset Dr. Azmi Bishara, Jamal Zahalka, Mohammad Baraka, and Abdul-Malik Dahamsha, and Israeli member of Knesset Roman Bronfman.

Spouses from Israel and the Palestinian territories were represented in the appeal which stressed that the Israeli family reunification law is “racist and affects the daily lives of the Palestinian residents in Israel and the occupied territories.

The appeal also emphasized that this law harms of principles of equality, human dignity and liberty.

The amendment formalized an Israeli cabinet decision of May 2002 that froze the graduated process for naturalizing Palestinians who marry Israelis.

It was considered as an emergency order in effect for one year, but it has been extended repeatedly.

Then Israeli Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz introduced some changes to the law in 2005;  the changes were observed as a slight ease on the restrictions on family unifications.

Justice Cheshin said that “Israeli citizens who marry Palestinians should go live in Jenin” during a debate on the subject in February before the High Court.

He added that the Palestinian Government is a hostile entity and an enemy to Israel, and that it calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

On Sunday, Israeli troops killed seven Palestinians in two separate raids, in the deadliest single day of violence in the West Bank in several weeks.  Some reports put the number at ten people killed.  All but one were killed in the village of Qabatia, south of Jenin, in a massive military invasion by Israeli forces on Sunday afternoon.


In the first raid, in the city of Jenin itself, Ali Jabarin, a former member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers who had encircled a building next to Palestinian intelligence headquarters in Jenin.

And in Qabatia village, Israeli soldiers surrounded a house and shot it to pieces, then bulldozed what was left.  The men inside were either shot or crushed to death.

Thair Hanaisha was one of the victims, and his brother, Mejahid, was also shot and killed as he rushed to help his dying brother, witnesses said Sunday.

Medics also said that 21-year-old Jihad Asaf Iqmel had been shot dead by troops after he threw stones at the forces in Qabatiya.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, denounced the raids, calling on the international community and the 'Quartet for Mid-East Peace' to intervene and demand an immediate halt to Israeli attacks.

Abbas was travelling to Russia on Sunday for talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with President Vladimir Putin.

Israeli military sources confirmed the clashes but were unable to comment on the casualties.

The army said that in both places troops seeking to carry out arrests were fired upon and returned fire.

Palestinian security sources said the Israeli raid was apparently targetted at Mahmoud Saadi, the overall leader of Islamic Jihad in the Jenin area.

Saadi was hit in the chest and legs but his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening, the sources said.


updated from:
Three Palestinians killed in ongoing invasion in Jenin

A Palestinian security source in Jenin reported on Sunday afternoon that three Palestinians, including two brothers, were killed during clashes which erupted after the Israeli army invaded the West Bank city of Jenin and the nearby town of Qabatia.

The source stated that Israeli troops attacked a Palestinian security center in Jenin and clashed with members of the Palestinian security forces; one security officer identified as Ali Jabareen was killed in the clashes.

In Qabatia town, troops shot and killed two brothers identified as Mojahid Hanaisha, 18, and his brother Tha'er, 20 years old.

A local source in the town reported that soldiers surrounded a house and exchanged fire with resistance fighters hiding there.

Abu Mojahid, media spokesperson of the Popular Resistance Committees  (PRC) reported that the two brothers are field leaders of the Salah Ed Deen Brigades, the military wing of the PRC.

Exchange of fire is also reported in Qabatia; soldiers are surrounding a house used as a hideout fighters of the Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad.

Hundreds of Palestinian captives in Israeli jails announced Saturday that they are about to declare an initiative to donate their monthly allowance to support their elected government, the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) and their people.

According to the prisoners' spokespeople, this will be a symbolic gesture to express Palestinian unity in the face of the oppressive siege imposed upon them by the USA and Israel with the aim of making Palestinians bow to their dictates.

Messages smuggled from Hadarim and Nafha prisons revealed that the Palestinian captives are having consultations to reach a united stand before beginning this action.

The prisoners' action coincides with the third week of a hunger strike being carried out by several prominent Palestinian activists and writers in Jenin which is also meant to encourage Palestinian national unity in the face of the oppressive sanctions currently being imposed by the US and Israel.

Prisoner spokespeople noted that this action is also meant to boost the political role of the prisoners and to send a message to all concerned that "Zionist prison walls are not going to stop the Palestinian political prisoners from actively pursuing their political role."

After a meeting with the Russian Ambassador at the Ministry Foreign Affairs in Gaza city on Sunday morning, Zahhar said that Hamas will not accept to endanger the security any country, especially Jordan.

Hamas says Amman has wrongly accused the group of arms smuggling because it is being influenced by the US to boycott the new Palestinian government.

Palestinian government spokesman, Ghazi Hammad, said on Wednesday: "I think the Jordanians themselves know more than anybody else the total mendacity and falsehood of these charges. They know that Hamas doesn't indulge in such activities."

"We are under a sinister Israeli military occupation. And our brotherly Arab states should not increase our burden by indulging in such cheap and stupid disinformation", Hammad added.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ambassador said that his country is attempting through its position in the Quartet to end the siege imposed over the Palestinians, and is willing to continue transferring financial aid to the Palestinians.

“Last week, Russia donated ten million U.S Dollars to the P.A”, the Russian Ambassador added, “This financial aid be used for Health, Education and humanitarian cases”.
 
Also on Saturday morning, Sa’eb Erikat, head of the Negotiations Department at the Palestinian Liberation Organization, told the Palestinian Radio that president Abbas will meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, next week in the south of Russia.

The two leaders are slated to hold talks on the economic crisis the Palestinians are facing after the European Countries boycotted the Hamas-led Palestinian government and stopped the transfer of financial and humanitarian aid.

Two Palestinian girls, students of the Anata secondary school in East Jerusalem, were injured Thursday when Israeli troops fired tear gas canisters at schoolgirls and their parents who were gathered for the school's graduation ceremony.

Eyewitnesses said that the troops raided the school and fired tear gas at the crowd, hitting one girl in the leg and causing another girl to faint as a result of inhaling the gas.

The headmistress of the school condemned the raid on a day she hoped would be joyous for the graduates, and called upon international human rights organizations to pressure Israeli authorities to stop harassing Palestinian schoolchildren.  Children are often the target of Israeli troops’ aggression -- more than 1,000 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of the current violence in 2000.

Anata secondary school is targeted by Israeli forces on an almost daily basis, as the school lies in the path of the Israeli annexation Wall.  The Wall is currently being constructed through the middle of the school's playground.  Students and teachers have tried to maintain their education despite the Wall, but the nearly daily attacks by Israeli soldiers on the schoolchildren has made this extremely difficult, according to the school's headmistress.

During an urgent meeting held on Saturday morning, the two movements agreed to hold talks to solve their differences instead of engaging in gun battles.

The urgent meeting was held in Beit Lahia Project, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Mohammad Abu Askar, one of Hamas leaders, said after the meeting that the “conflict has been contained”, and that the two movements agreed to use dialog as the only means to resolve their differences.

Abu Askar added that the two movements have also agreed to remove the roadblocks installed by members of the two movements in different areas, and to end all sorts of public display of weapons.  

Abu Askar also said that the two movements have agreed to form an investigation committee to reveal the causes of the tension and to solve the conflict in peaceful means.

“There are some external parties that are trying to inflame conflicts between Hamas and Fateh”, Abu Askar stated, “Attacks were carried out against the houses of leaders and senior members from the two movements, these attacks only serve the Israeli interests”.

Over the last several days, armed members of the two movements exchanged fire and engaged in gun battles with the Palestinian Police and Security forces. Three Palestinians were killed and at least twelve others were injured during the clashes.

Fateh was represented in the talks by Jamal Abu Al Jidian, leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades in northern Gaza, Salim Abu Atiyya, in charge of Crossings Security, Fayez Abu Atiyya, and Hasan Abu Hlayyil, one of the leaders of the Al Aqsa Brigades.

An Australian man and a Danish man are both being treated in an Israeli hospital after being shot in the head by rubber bullets at close range during a protest in the West Bank Friday.

IMEMC reporters on the scene reported that Israeli soldiers started throwing sound grenades and firing rubber bullets during the peaceful demonstration, injuring seven people, including Phil Reiss from Sydney, Australia and a Danish demonstrator.

International Solidarity Movement (ISM) spokeswoman Zadie Susser stated that Mr Reiss had been volunteering with the organisation for two weeks, and was seriously injured after being shot in the head at close range with the rubber bullets.

In an interview with the IMEMC, she stated, "He was standing with a video camera filming -- not even three meters from the soldiers, when the soldiers started firing at people's heads.  I was standing right next to him, and I saw him sit down, holding his head.  When I went over to him, I saw blood just spurting out of his head.  I helped him get to an ambulance."

She added, "We got him out of the line of fire and ... as we were getting him into the ambulance an Israeli soldier grabbed his long hair and they all tried to stop him from leaving in the ambulance even though they knew he was injured," Mr Susser added.

Ms Susser said Mr. Reiss had hemorrhaging in his brain and was being treated in Tel Hashomer, a hospital in Tel Aviv, "We spoke to the doctor a few hours ago and he told us Phil was in a moderate condition," she said.

She said the International Solidarity Movement is a non-violent, Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

The violence occurred during a weekly demonstration protesting against the Israeli construction of the Annexation Wall in the West Bank town of Bil'in.  The Bil'in protest is one of a number of weekly protests held Fridays by Palestinian villagers and their Israeli and international supporters, at sites where the Wall is currently being constructed on Palestinian land.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that a 29 year old Australian man had been injured.  No further information is known about the Danish activist

Israeli troops raided the old quarters of the city of Nablus at dawn on Friday, besieged the Khan al-Tojjar neighbourhood and clashed with resistance fighters affiliated with the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades that resulted in seriously wounding Tabila.

Palestinian medical sources said that Israeli troops stopped a Palestinian ambulance carrying Tabila to hospital at the Hawwara checkpoint for a number of hours despite the fact that he was bleeding. Then they arrested the man who later succumbed to his wounds.

updated from:
Army kills a Palestinian man, arrests another in Nablus
2006-05-12 09:05:56

One Palestinian was killed and another arrested on Friday in a pre-dawn Israeli military invasion to the West Bank city of Nablus.

Ra'ed Tbeila, 28, a top leader in Al Aqsa Martyrs brigade, the armed wing of Fatah, was killed and another resident was arrested, when a large Israeli force, of around 20 military vehicles invaded the old city.

Tbaila was injured in the head as Israeli soldiers swept the area searching many houses in the old city, a local source reported.

Troops stopped the ambulance that evacuated Tbaila and arrested him although he was bleeding and needed medical attention, a medical source reported.

Meanwhile, Ammar Abu Mostafah 22, a local resident was arrested also in the operation, after soldiers searched his home; he was taken to unknown location.

The troops also stormed the dorms used by the female students of Al Najah University in Nablus, local sources reported.  No arrests were made.

Nablus has been subject to series of military intrusion during the past week, during which two Palestinians werer killed and several were arrested and injured.

According to a report by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza, During the week, the Israeli army conducted a total of 38 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.  During these incursions, troops raided houses and arrested 61 Palestinian civilians, including 11 children.  The army used undercover units and trained dogs during these incursions.

The woman and two Jewish settlers were injured when the settler's car hit the woman who was riding her horse going back home from her farmland.

Apparently, the settler was over-speeding and the car jumped of the road and hit the woman by accident, as he was en route to the settlement of Bittar Ilit that is built on lands confiscated from residents of the villages of Nahaleen, Hussan and Wadi Fukin .

Troops who arrived to the scene, declared through megaphones that villagers are not allowed to leave their houses, assuming that what happened was a Palestinian attack against the settlers.

However, a quick police investigation revealed that it was an accident, which had the soldiers to lift the restrictions.

The three were then evacuated to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem for medical treatment. The settler and his companion's wounds were described medium whereas the Palestinian woman's woundes were described seroius and the horse died.

An extremist settler group attempted, on Thursday at night, to burn a Palestinian resident while he was present in a caravan in Huwwara village, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli police and security sources reported on Friday.


The settlers set the caravan on fire while knowing that a Palestinian guard in inside it after he barricaded himself there in an attempt to avoid them. He was injured in his face.

After the caravan was set on fire, the guard had to step out and was attacked by the settlers. Later on, the guard ran to a nearby Israeli military checkpoint to report the incident.

According to Israeli police sources, the guard told soldiers stationed at the checkpoint that he saw five settlers fleeing towards the Bracha illegal settlement outpost, Near Nablus, after the attack took place.

The sources added that the settlers knew that the guard was in the caravan when they set it on fire.

An Israeli military source reported that troops know where the attackers set out from, and that they planned to force the Palestinian resident out of the area, and chase them.

An Israeli military tracker confirmed Friday that he identified a trail of the attackers' footprints leading to the Bracha outpost.

The attack is not the first against the same area which is known for its high tensions between the extremist settlers and the Palestinian residents, the settlers install their outpost on Palestinian lands they take by force.

On Thursday at night, settlers sneaked into Huwwara and burnt several Palestinian caravans at a Palestinian stone factory.

Three months ago, former Israeli Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, signed an evacuation order for the Bracha illegal settlement outpost, but the order was not implemented.

Sources within the Israeli government said that a speedy evacuation of the illegal outpost “is needed, and would signal to the Yesha Council of Settlements that the actions of crazy extremists cannot be backed up by police silence”.