File photo: A Palestinian schoolgirl arrives to attend lessons inside a tent
An Israeli military force on Thursday tore down a tent that was being used as a classroom for Palestinian students in the Jordan Valley region of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian official.
“Israeli officials attempted to justify the move by saying the tent was erected without a license,” Mutaz Bisharat, a Palestinian Authority (PA) official responsible for tracking Israeli settlement activity in the region, told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
The Israeli army, Bisharat said, had torn down the makeshift classroom and prevented teachers and students from reaching the site.
Hundreds of Jewish settlers forced their way into East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Thursday, according to a Palestinian official. “Some 200 settlers stormed the compound under the protection of Israeli police,” Firas al-Dibs, a Palestinian official with Jerusalem’s Religious Endowments Authority (which oversees the city's Muslim and Christian holy sites), said in a statement.According to al-Dibs, the settlers were accompanied by Israeli MP Shuli Mualem of the right-wing Jewish Home party.In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lifted a three-year ban on Israeli government officials and lawmakers visiting Al-Aqsa, allowing members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) to visit the flashpoint site once every three months. Saudis used Israeli spyware to track Khashoggi: SnowdenIn late 2015, Netanyahu had banned MPs from entering the Al-Aqsa compound in an effort to calm tensions that had erupted across the Israeli-occupied West Bank following repeated incursions by Jewish settlers into the site. For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. Israel occupied East Jerusalem, in which the Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Middle East War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as its “eternal and undivided” capital in a move never recognized by the international community.
Jewish settlers converge on J'lem's Aqsa Mosque complex
Last month, Israeli forces -- using the same excuse -- dismantled a number of makeshift classrooms set up for Palestinian students in the same area.
Early this year, the Palestinian Education Ministry set up the classroom in Ibziq village with a view to providing local Bedouin communities with basic education.
Under the 1993 Oslo agreement between Israel and the PA, the occupied West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C.
Area A falls under the PA’s administrative and security control; Area B falls under the PA’s administrative control and Israel’s security control; and Area C -- which includes the Jordan Valley region -- falls under the exclusive administrative and security control of Israel.
Area C is home to some 300,000 Palestinians, many of whom are part of Bedouin communities that continue to follow a nomadic lifestyle.
A bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers has slammed Israel for a bill winding its way through the Israeli parliament that Christian leaders have warned would reduce the faithful's presence in Jerusalem.Jerusalem's Christian leaders say the "Tenants' Rights Law" is aimed at expropriating church property in the holy city.The bill, which was introduced by Rachel Azaria, a member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, for the centrist Kulanu Party, would allow properties in Jerusalem that were sold earlier by the Greek Orthodox Church to private developers to be handed over to the state, effectively nationalizing them.The group of eight lawmakers from the House of Representatives and Senate sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday protesting the bill's advancement in the Knesset, saying they are "concerned that this bill threatens the sustainability of the historic Christian presence in Jerusalem."The letter, which is signed by Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representatives Robert Aderholt, Gus Bilirakis, Anna Eshoo, Jeff Fortenberry, Andy Harris, Randy Hultgren and James McGovern, was first reported by the Jerusalem Post.None of the lawmaker's offices who Anadolu Agency reached out to responded to requests seeking corroboration of the letter.The lawmakers said "the impact of this bill will fall almost entirely on church properties.""The resultant loss of church resources by provisions requiring church properties be subject to nationalization would make it impossible for the churches to continue to deliver their ministry within the wider community," they wrote asking the administration to "do everything in its power to work with the government of Israel to resolve this matter and ensure a lasting resolution."
US lawmakers rip Israel bill to seize church land
Software made by an Israeli cyber security firm was used to track murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower claimed Wednesday.Addressing a conference in Tel Aviv, Israel via a video call from Russia, Edward Snowden said Pegasus spyware sold to governments by NSO Group Technologies was used to track opponents. “The Saudis, of course, knew that Khashoggi was going to go to the consulate, as he got an appointment. But how did they know his intention and plans?”Khashoggi, a Saudi national and columnist for The Washington Post, was killed on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.EU urges Saudi cooperation with Turkish Khashoggi probeGermany says all behind Khashoggi murder should be punishedOnce inside, he was immediately strangled and then dismembered, according to the Istanbul Prosecutor’s office.After announcing he was killed, Saudi Arabia has yet to reveal the location of Khashoggi’s body.Snowden said the smartphone of one of Khashoggi’s friends, who was living in exile in Canada, had been infected with NSO’s Pegasus spyware.He said the software allowed the Saudis to collect information about Khashoggi.“The truth is that they pursued some of his friends through a program written by the Israeli company.”A report issued by Canadian research institute Citizen Lab said: “We have high confidence that the cellphone of Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi activist and Canadian permanent resident, was targeted and infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.”The software, which allows almost unlimited surveillance of mobile phones, is seen as the world's most powerful mobile spyware application.Snowden, who leaked thousands of documents detailing a long-term surveillance program by the U.S. government, was granted asylum by Russia in 2013 after the U.S charged him with espionage.His residence permit in Russia was extended until 2020.Saudi prince launches country's 1st nuke plant projectSaudis sent 'clean-up' team to Turkey after Khashoggi killing, official says
Saudis used Israeli spyware to track Khashoggi: Snowden