File photo: Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday ordered the reopening of the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings with the Gaza Strip.
“The decision comes after a decrease in the violent events in Gaza over the weekend and efforts Hamas made to restrain demonstrators,” Lieberman said in a statement.
Lieberman had shut the two crossings and the entry of Qatar-funded fuel shipments into Gaza following a rocket fire from the Palestinian territory.
“The decision on the renewal of the fuel from Qatar has been put off as for the time being, and will be examined in a number of days based on the events,” he said.
More than 200 Palestinians have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli army fire in anti-occupation protests along the buffer zone between Gaza and Israel.
Protesters demand the right to return to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.
They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
Israel said on Sunday it would put on hold for "a number of weeks" its threatened razing of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank amid international calls to drop the plan, saying it would try to negotiate an evacuation.The decision was announced after a meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet.Israel, which has long sought to clear the Arab nomads from tracts of land between the Jewish settlements of Maale Adumim and Kfar Adumim, has said the hamlet of Khan al-Ahmar was built without the required permits.Palestinians, who lost an Israeli Supreme Court appeal against the evacuation, say such documents are impossible to obtain.The European Union and the United Nations have urged Israel to abandon the plan to demolish Khan al-Ahmar and relocate its 180 residents to an area about 12 km (seven miles) away next to a landfill in the West Bank.Foreign pressure was ramped up on Wednesday when the International Criminal Court prosecutor said in a statement about Khan al-Ahmar that population transfers in occupied territory constitute war crimes. Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war."The security cabinet is allowing an extension of a number of weeks for negotiations on a consensual evacuation to be exhausted," the Israeli statement said.Egypt delegation meets Israel officials to discuss GazaIsrael spying industry aids repressive regimes: HaaretzIsraeli authorities have been expected to send in bulldozers at any time after an Oct. 1 deadline for the villagers to demolish their own homes expired. Pro-Palestinian foreign activists have flocked to the site.In remarks to reporters earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu echoed a statement on Saturday by an official in his office who said the eviction had been postponed and an alternative relocation plan was being considered, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority.But Netanyahu said the demolition would not be delayed indefinitely.Israel deploys fresh troops, tanks on Gaza’s outskirtsIsraeli army to step up response to Gaza demonstrationsThe Palestinian Foreign Ministry, commenting on those remarks in statement, dismissed the postponement as "nothing more than an Israeli attempt to calm foreign and local criticism".The Palestinians say razing Khan al-Ahmar's tents and tin shacks is part of an Israeli plan to create an arc of Jewish settlements that could effectively cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank, areas occupied by Israel since a 1967 war.Most countries consider settlements built by Israel on land it captured in 1967 as illegal and say they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians seek for a viable state. Israel disputes this.Israeli army arrests Palestinian intelligence chiefIsrael arrests two Palestinian fishermen off Gaza coastInjury toll climbs to 130 in Israeli gunfire in Gaza
Israel puts West Bank Bedouin village eviction on hold for several weeks
Israeli police on Saturday detained Governor of Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith, according to official Wafa news agency.“At least three police cars intercepted the car carrying the governor before nabbing him and leading him to an unknown destination,” the news agency said.It added that no reason was given for the arrest, which took place in north of occupied Jerusalem.Earlier Saturday, Israeli forces also detained the Palestinian intelligence chief in Jerusalem, according to Wafa news agency.Col. Jihad al-Faqih was stopped while driving to his work at an Israeli military checkpoint in al-Judeira village in northwestern Jerusalem, it said.The Palestinian official was taken to Jerusalem for interrogation.Israeli authorities have yet to comment on the report.Israeli army arrests Palestinian intelligence chiefIsrael arrests two Palestinian fishermen off Gaza coastInjury toll climbs to 130 in Israeli gunfire in Gaza
Israeli police detain governor of Jerusalem