Latest news with #IsraeliCivilAdministration
Arab News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Palestinian Authority warns of Israeli plan to transfer control over Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque to settlement council
LONDON: The Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has warned about the consequences of imposing Israeli settler control over the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron city, south of the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday. The ministry said that Israel's decision to transfer the management of the mosque, known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs, to a settlement council is 'an unprecedented move to impose control over it, Judaize it, alter its identity, and a blatant violation of international law and UN resolutions.' Israeli media reported on Wednesday that the Israeli Civil Administration, which operates under the Ministry of Defense and governs the West Bank, has transferred the management and supervision of the Ibrahimi Mosque from the Hebron municipality to the religious council of the Kiryat Arba settlement. The ministry called on UNESCO, which had designated the Ibrahimi Mosque as a World Heritage site in 2017, to urgently intervene and halt the implementation of this plan. Tayseer Abu Sneineh, mayor of Hebron, stressed that 'the transfer of the powers of the Ibrahimi Mosque administration (to the settlement's religious council) is an assault on the civilization of the city and a blatant violation of international law.' Abu Sneineh said that the Israeli Civil Administration, officially known as the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, has not yet officially handed over the decision to the city's municipality. He said that Israeli violations of the Ibrahimi Mosque's sanctity began shortly after the city and West Bank were occupied in 1967, when settlers held a collective wedding at the site. 'We reject the decision in full, and consider it a political, cultural and religious aggression against the city of Hebron,' Abu Sneineh told Wafa news agency. Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh, director of the Ibrahimi Mosque, said they have not received official notification about the transfer of administration powers, emphasizing that the mosque is a purely Islamic site and part of Islamic endowment property. The Ibrahimi Mosque is in Hebron's Old City, where about 400 settlers are protected by around 1,500 Israeli soldiers and surrounded by numerous military checkpoints. Since 1994, Israel has spatially divided the Ibrahimi Mosque into 63 percent for Jews and 37 percent for Muslims, after a massacre by an extremist settler that killed 29 Palestinian worshipers at the site.
Scoop
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
UN Rights Office Sounds The Alarm Over Forced Displacement In The West Bank
26 June 2025 Israeli authorities have stepped up measures to transfer large numbers of people from long-standing Palestinian towns and communities, according to OHCHR's office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. On 18 June, the High Planning Council in the Israeli Civil Administration issued a directive to reject all building and planning permits submitted by Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills, in the area referred by the Israeli authorities as Firing Zone 918. The decision was based on the grounds that the Israeli army needs the area for 'military training,' the rights office said. Demolitions on the rise In recent months, Israel has dramatically ramped up home demolitions, as well as the arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment of Palestinians and human rights defenders. This is happening alongside intensifying movement restrictions in and around Masafer Yatta, to force Palestinians out, the office noted. At the same time, Israeli settlers from nearby outposts have carried out daily attacks and harassment of Palestinians, including older people, women and children, to force them to leave. 'The recent directive by the Israeli Civil Administration effectively paves the way for the Israeli army to demolish existing structures in the area and expel the approximately 1,200 Palestinians, who have been living there for decades,' OHCHR said. 'This would amount to forcible transfer, which is a war crime. It could also amount to a crime against humanity if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.' Some 6,463 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced following the demolition of their homes by Israel between 7 October 2023 and 31 May 2025, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, This figure does not include the approximately 40,000 Palestinians displaced from three refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem as a result of intensive Israeli operations in the northern West Bank since January. During the same period, over 2,200 Palestinians were forcibly displaced by settler attacks and access restrictions. More communities at risk OHCHR added that countless other Palestinian communities face the same fate of forced displacement. It said that on 10 June, the Jerusalem municipality reportedly issued demolition notices for the entire village of An Nu'man, home to 150 people. The village, which is located near Bethlehem, was cut off from the rest of the West Bank by the construction of the separation wall and incorporated into Israel's unilaterally declared boundaries of the Jerusalem municipality. Most Palestinians were not provided with Jerusalem identification cards, effectively rendering them unable to access services in either East Jerusalem or the rest of the West Bank. 'These demolition notices appear to be another step by Israel to compound the coercive environment and forcibly transfer Palestinians from the village and consolidate the annexation of this land,' the office said. Evictions in East Jerusalem Meanwhile, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem also face the ongoing threat of forced eviction from their homes and lands. OHCHR said that on 16 and 22 June, the Israeli Supreme Court endorsed the eviction of five Palestinian families, 37 people, from their homes in the Batn El Hawa neighbourhood of Silwan based on discriminatory laws that permit Jewish individuals to reclaim property lost in the 1948 war, while denying Palestinians the same rights. Additionally, the Israel Land Authority issued eviction notices on 11 June for residencies in Umm Tuba. The 150 Palestinians affected were informed that the land was registered to the Jewish National Fund under the 'settlement of land title'. 'These evictions form part of a concerted campaign by the Israeli State and settler organisations, which target Palestinian neighbourhoods to seize Palestinian homes and expand Jewish settlements,' OHCHR said. The office stressed that these acts violate international law, which prohibits the confiscation of private property in occupied territory, as highlighted by the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last July.
