Knesset’s vote to extend Israeli law to academic institutions in the illegal settlements and place them under the authority of the Council for Higher Education in Israel. She said in a press release that ‘this decision represents another dangerous step in the annexation of the occupied West Bank.’
HANAN Ashrawi, PLO Executive Committee Member, on Tuesday condemned the Israeli
The academic institutions include Ariel University, which is located in the Salfit Governorate (settlement of Ariel), Orot College in the Salfit Governorate (settlement of Elkana), and Herzog College located near Bethlehem and Jerusalem (settlement of Alon Shvut).
Ashrawi said the legislation is part of the Israeli government’s plans to impose its sovereignty on all of the occupied West Bank, systematically wiping out the Palestinian presence and continuity on Palestinian soil and destroying the two-state solution. ‘All settlements are illegal and constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and a direct violation of international law and conventions, including UNSC resolution 2334.
‘Israel is thereby demonstrating its intent to prolong and consolidate its military occupation by working to “legalise” the presence of extremist Jewish settlers, institutions and settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.’ The US administration’s unilateral steps on Jerusalem and refugees, as well as its unquestioning support of Israel’s lawlessness and impunity have only emboldened Israel to persist in such unlawful policies of creeping annexation with the aim of superimposing ‘Greater Israel’ on all of historic Palestine, she added.
Ashrawi called call on global and regional partners who claim to support international law, international humanitarian law and the two-state solution to step in urgently and curb this latest Israeli outrage and to hold Israel to account by employing punitive measures and sanctions.
She urged the European Union to implement its own legislation, which clearly states that it will not provide funding to Israeli organisations or institutions situated in the occupied West Bank.
‘Instead of maintaining a relationship of exceptionalism and preferential treatment with Israel, it is time to send Israel a clear message that the EU will not tolerate such behaviour that not only violates international law but also subverts any global effort at bring about the two-state solution and peace.’ The Israeli decision to annex the illegal settlements in the West Bank is part of a plan to impose dictates on the Palestinian people that would lead to the establishment of an apartheid state with two regimes, Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee, said on Tuesday.
He said that Palestinian leadership will never accept such steps and will never negotiate Israel’s war crimes that are supported by the United States. Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio that the US administration should go back on its decision declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and then seek solutions to resume the political process.
He said the US administration wants to meet with the Palestinian leadership at any price to send a message to the world that they were angry for weeks and then returned to negotiations, after which a Palestinian-Israeli meeting will be set up to resume negotiations to exclude the main issues, including Jerusalem, which will be outside of the negotiations. Erekat stressed that liquidating the national project will never happen.
Meanwhile, Palestinians held in administrative detention in Israeli jails often for prolonged periods of time without charge or trial, announced on Tuesday that they have decided to boycott all Israeli courts. The prisoners said in a statement that they made this decision ‘from our belief that the cornerstone for confronting this unjust policy lies in the boycott of the Israeli judicial system, which always seeks to beautify the ugly face of colonialism.’
‘We will not let them justify their lies about their commitment to international law and the existence of independent monitoring judiciary,’ said the detainees. They pointed out that hundreds of Palestinians have been held continuously for several years under the security pretext and existence of classified files. They said these detentions continue for long periods of time and some detainees have spent up to 14 years in administrative detention.
They said Israel uses the 70 years old British Emergency Laws to justify its detention of Palestinian political activists by claiming that administrative detention is subject to strict judicial supervision. ‘This is a big lie since the occupation’s judicial system is a faithful and sincere executor of the colonialists’ policies against our people,’ said the detainees.
The detainees described the courts, including the High Court, as ‘formalities’ since the judges approved 99.9% of the recommendations of the Israeli security services, the Shabac, based on the pretext of the secret file, which the administrative detainee or his lawyer cannot see.
Elsewhere, a Grant Contract for a Grassroots Human Security Project funded by the Japanese government was signed on Monday for the construction of five rainwater harvesting cisterns for seven elementary and secondary schools in Hebron and Bethlehem.
Takeshi Okubo, Ambassador for the Palestinian Affairs and Representative of Japan to Palestine, and representative of Palestinian Hydrology Group signed the GGP contract at the Representative Office of Japan to Palestine in Ramallah for a total amount of $86,000. This project aims at providing better water supply, overcoming the crisis of water shortage, and thus achieving an appropriate educational environment for the current students, said a press release issued by the representative office of Japan to Palestine.
Once the project is implemented, about 2,646 students and teachers in the seven targeted schools will benefit from the stable and sufficient supply of clean water, said the release.
Okubo emphasised Japan’s firm commitment of supporting the Palestinian people from the human security perspective as well as the importance of implementing social and economic development projects needed for Palestinian communities. He congratulated the Palestinian Hydrology Group and wished them success in their project.
• The Israeli military authority informed Palestinian landowners in the town of Azzon, to the east of Qalqilya in the north of the West Bank, of its intention to confiscate 52 dunums of their land located near the illegal settlement of Alfei Menashe, the landowners said on Tuesday. They said that the confiscation orders said it was intended to modify the zoning map for the settlement, which includes seizing agricultural Palestinian land that will be used to build new houses for the settlers.
Hasan Shbeita, who monitors settlement activities in Azzon, said that the municipality contacted Palestinian officials to inform them of this new Israeli decision in order follow it up at the legal level. The farmers possess land deeds that prove their ownership of the targeted land, he said.
• Israeli settlers spray-painted on Tuesday racist anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian graffiti on cars and walls of Palestinian homes and slashed tyres of five Palestinian-owned cars in the village of Jitt, to the east of Qalqilya in the north of the West Bank. Witnesses said that settlers from the illegal Gilad outpost broke into the village late at night, ran havoc in the streets before spray painting cars and homes with racist slogans such as ‘death for Arabs’ and ‘transfer now’.
The settlers also vandalised cars and slashed their tyres.
• The Israeli military judge ordered on Tuesday all media to leave the courtroom at Ofer military camp where the trial of Ahed Tamimi is being held. Tamimi, 17, who was detained in December after she was filmed slapping an Israeli soldier who raided her family home in Nabi Saleh village near Ramallah, is facing a number of charges including humiliating Israeli soldiers.
The military judge removed all the press corps from the courtroom before the start of Tamimi’s trial, which is being held in a closed session. However, after a short hearing, the court ruled to postpone the trial of Tamimi and her mother Nariman until March.
Nariman Tamimi was detained on the same day as her daughter and charged with incitement for filming the slapping of the soldier and for posting it on the internet.
Ahed Tamimi’s detention has garnered world condemnation and support for the Palestinian teenager.