Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced mounting pressure Sunday over new security measures at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site after a weekend of violence left eight people dead, with fears more unrest could follow. Israeli officials signalled they may be open to changing the measures at the Haram al-Sharif mosque compound, known to Jews as … Read more
Israel’s army boosted security Thursday and braced for possibile unrest on the eve of the main weekly Muslim prayers after security measures imposed at a sensitive Jerusalem site angered Palestinians. Officials were reportedly in talks to defuse the crisis, which followed a deadly attack last Friday on police near the site that includes the Al-Aqsa … Read more
Israel’s army has been boosting its forces ahead of possible unrest over new security measures at a sensitive holy site that have angered Muslims and Palestinian leaders, a military spokeswoman said Thursday. Palestinians have been refusing to enter the Haram al-Sharif compound in annexed east Jerusalem since Sunday, when Israel began installing metal detectors at … Read more
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he was not seeking an “escalation” in the Gaza Strip after his government moved to reduce electricity supplies to the Hamas-run enclave. Israel’s security cabinet decided on Sunday to reduce the daily amount of electricity supplied to Gaza by between 45 and 60 minutes, Israeli media reported. Gazans … Read more
Israel will reduce electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip after funding cuts by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, an Israeli minister said Monday, worsening an already severe shortage in the Hamas-run enclave. The move has raised fears of a new upsurge in violence, with Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza having fought three wars since 2008. … Read more
Israel will reduce electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip after funding cuts by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, a minister said Monday, worsening an already severe shortage in the Hamas-run enclave. The security cabinet decided Sunday to reduce the daily amount supplied to Gaza by around 45 minutes, Israeli media reported. Gazans currently receive only three … Read more
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails on hunger strike since April 17 have ended their mass protest under a deal brokered by the Red Cross, Palestinian and Israeli sources said on Saturday. Some 30 of the more than 800 hunger strikers had been hospitalised in recent days, raising fears of an escalation of clashes … Read more
The wife of the leader of a hunger strike by hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has written to Pope Francis calling on him to intervene “before it is too late”. Fadwa Barghouti, wife of Palestinian leader and prominent prisoner Marwan Barghouti, has called on the pope to “speak up, because freedom and dignity … Read more
An Israeli minister said Sunday that 300 Palestinians have agreed to end an almost two-week-old hunger strike launched in protest at the conditions of their detention. The Palestinians, for their part, said 1,500 prisoners were keeping up their fast in Israeli jails. Three hundred hunger strikers have “agreed to take food without having obtained” any … Read more
Palestinian leaders on Wednesday denounced Israel’s refusal to negotiate with Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails, warning of a “new intifada” if any of them die. Some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have joined the hunger strike that began Monday, according to Issa Qaraqe, head of detainees’ affairs for the Palestinian Authority. Contacted by AFP, Israel’s … Read more
At Amin al-Husseini secondary school in the occupied West Bank, with an Israeli settlement visible in the distance, singing the Palestinian national anthem is a daily ritual of student life. For the Palestinians, Haj Amin al-Husseini, former grand mufti of Jerusalem, is the hero of a 1936 revolt against the British mandate over Palestine. To … Read more
Jerusalem – An Israeli policeman was caught on video on Thursday physically assaulting a Palestinian in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Wadi el-Joz. The video shows a plainclothes police officer agressively confronting a Palestinian truck driver – later identified as 50-year-old Mazen Shweiki – after the latter hit the officer’s car. The verbal confrontation … Read more
Israel arrested on Thursday a Jewish teenager accused of making dozens of anti-Semitic bomb threats in the United States and elsewhere, and one to a major airline, following a wide-ranging investigation involving the FBI. The arrest comes after a wave of bomb threats to American Jewish institutions since the start of the year spread concern … Read more
A Jewish youth was arrested in Israel on Thursday on suspicion of making dozens of anti-Semitic threats in countries around the world, police said. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the suspect was “a resident of the south (of Israel) from the Jewish community”. Police said the suspect was 19, but gave no further identifying details. … Read more
Israeli police on Tuesday closed a Palestinian research centre in Jerusalem and briefly arrested its director, a prominent cartographer, accusing him of working for the Palestinian security services. The office of cartography in occupied east Jerusalem was shut down for six months, a police statement said. Israeli officials accused its head Khalil Tafakji of working … Read more
A British activist who advocates boycotting Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territory has been denied entry to the country, authorities said Monday. Hugh Lanning, head of the London-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was denied entry on Sunday night at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv over his “ongoing actions to promote boycotts against Israel,” a … Read more
A new Israeli law banning entry to foreigners who support boycotting the country came under fire Tuesday from human rights groups and the opposition, who called it “thought control” harmful to Israel’s international standing. The approval of the law late Monday was defended by government ministers and supporters as a necessary response to the movement … Read more
Israel has approved plans to partially decriminalise marijuana use in public in favour of fines and treatment. First-time users who confess will be fined 1,000 shekels (£220) while being caught in possession or using the drug in public a second time will see the charge doubled. Users caught a third time will be handed a … Read more
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to partially decriminalise marijuana use in public in favour of fines and treatment, officials said. First-time users who confess will be fined 1,000 shekels ($270, 255 euros). The fine will be doubled on the second offence, with the third time forcing a probation period on the user. … Read more
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo began a whirlwind visit to Israel on Sunday, pledging solidarity with Jews as the United States sees a surge in anti-Semitic incidents. There have been more than 100 bomb threats against US Jewish organisations since the beginning of the year and three Jewish cemeteries have been vandalised, with some analysts … Read more