THREE Palestinians were killed on Tuesday after Israeli forces opened fire at their vehicle in al-Tur area in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, according to a statement by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
According to security sources, Israeli forces prevented medical staff from approaching the scene before proceeding to seize the bodies of the three slain Palestinians, who were later identified as 32-year-old Noureddine Tayseer Al-Ardah, 33-year-old Montaser Bahjat Ali Salameh, and 43-year-old Saad Maher Al-Kharraz.
Additionally, the soldiers also seized the targeted vehicle.
According to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces deliberately targeted surveillance cameras in the area in an attempt to hide evidence from the scene.
Israeli forces closed the area for several hours, preventing journalists and medical staff from entering.
They also closed the metal gate set up at the entrance of Jabal Jarzim and prevented citizens from entering or leaving.
The official spokesman for the presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said that the killing of three Palestinian young men by Israeli occupation forces near the gate of Jabal Jarzim in Nablus today is a ‘war crime’, adding that it is a continuation of the policy of collective punishment to which Palestinian people are subjected.
Abu Rudeineh added that the continuation of the daily killings, the storming of Palestinian cities, the assault on Islamic and Christian holy sites, along with settlements, plans for annexation and racial expansion, and other Israeli crimes will not bring security and stability to anyone.
And that the only way to achieve peace and security is to give the Palestinian people their legitimate rights that have been endorsed by international legitimacy.
He confirmed that the Israeli occupation government is the only one that bears the consequences of the aggression and crimes that are taking place, whether by the occupation forces or the settler terrorism that takes place under the eyes and protection of the occupation army.
He pointed out that the silence of the US administration is what encourages the occupation to continue its crimes against the Palestinian people, calling for immediate US intervention to stop this aggression, which aims to drag the region into the square of violence, tension and instability.
The Israeli occupation forces briefly detained today the head of the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, Moayad Shaaban, after assaulting an anti-settlements protest in the village of Deir Istiya, west of the northern West Bank city of Salfit.
The occupation forces detained the Palestinian official while he was participating in the protest during which the soldiers fired tear gas canisters at the participants, and assaulted journalists preventing them from covering the event. Shaaban was later released.
The Governor of Salfit, Abdullah Kmail said that the occupation forces suppressed a peaceful protest march, which he said reflects the ‘terrorist fascist’ state’s mentality, especially after they fired live bullets and tear gas at the participants in the march, and assaulted them.
About a month ago, the settlers seized lands in the north of Deir Istiya, and placed mobile homes on the private lands.
They also built sheep pens and a dirt road to the area, and extended water and electricity networks with the aim of establishing a new settlement outpost.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad Al-Malki, on Tuesday submitted Palestine’s written statement to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the court’s opinion as well as the legal opinion on the nature of the Israeli colonial occupation in the occupied Palestinian territory and the legal consequences arising from that occupation.
This came during a meeting in the Hague between Minister Al-Maliki and the ICJ’s Registrar, Philippe Gautier.
Al-Malki stressed that Palestine submitted the written statement in implementation of the resolutions of the General Assembly and the decisions of the ICJ.
He added that the move is part of the diplomatic and legal movement led by the State of Palestine to preserve the rights of the Palestinian people and protect them from crimes committed by Israel, the illegal occupying power, with the goal of holding Israeli war criminals accountable and lifting their immunity.
He affirmed that the submission presented irrefutable evidence and facts of Israel’s illegal policies and practices, and drew a clear picture of the crimes and suffering inflicted upon the Palestinian people over decades since the Nakba.
Al-Malki stated: ‘These facts lead to a direct conclusion that the Israeli colonial occupation and its annexation of Palestinian land, racial discrimination and apartheid against the Palestinian people, and its systematic rejection of the inalienable rights of our people, including the right to self-determination and the right of return, are illegal.
He stressed that the Israeli occupation must end immediately and unconditionally, affirming that this naturally creates legal consequences and obligations, for Israel first, and for the states and organisations of the international community to oppose these illegal actions.
Israeli authorities on Tuesday forced a Palestinian citizen to demolish his own house in the town of Beit Hanina in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Israel authorities forced Mohammad al-Su’oud, a local resident, to demolish his own house, in which he and his family of five members lived, in order to avoid paying exorbitant fees to the Israeli municipality in the event that its crews carried out the demolition on their own.
The house was built several years ago, sources confirmed, adding that the family is afraid Israeli authorities may issue a demolition order against two other houses they own, under the pretext of building without a permit.
Using the pretext of building without a permit, which is rarely granted to Palestinians in the occupied city, the Israeli regime has demolished or forced Palestinians to demolish hundreds of Palestinian-owned houses as part of a policy aimed to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews with the goal of offsetting the demographic balance in favour of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.
Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognised Palestinian Territory that has been subject to Israeli military occupation since 1967, they are denied their citizenship rights and are instead classified only as ‘residents’ whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city for more than a few years.
They are also discriminated against in all aspects of life including housing, employment and services, and are unable to access services in the West Bank due to the construction of Israel’s separation wall.
Israeli forces on Tuesday seized a Palestinian-owned tractor and another vehicle in the village of Bardala in the northern Jordan Valley, sources confirmed.
The forces raided the village and seized a tractor and a vehicle, both owned by local residents respectively.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on Tuesday condemned what it described as ‘the barbaric incursion’ into Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm by the Israeli occupation forces.
The raided camp at dawn and the resulting destruction and damage caused to a large part of the infrastructure and properties, blaming the weak international response to the Israeli military incursions as the cause for the continuation of the Israeli assaults.
The Foreign Ministry considered in a statement the repetitive incursions and destructions, such as the one in the Jenin camp and today in Nur Shams, ‘a confirmation that the occupying state belittles the international reactions and positions toward its violations and crimes, and another proof that the low level and weakness of international reactions encourage the Israeli government and its various arms to commit more crimes and repeat them in more than one Palestinian location and region.’
It warned against the continuation of the Israeli coalition government’s exporting of its crises to the Palestinian arena while making the Palestinian people pay a heavy price for them.
The Foreign Ministry called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to activate the protection system for the Palestinian people so that they will not remain a continuous victim of the occupying state and its crises in light of the double standards of the international community.
