Category: Israeli Settlement

Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a prominent leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip said the Israeli withdrawal from the strip will be a ‘victory for the fighters,’ media sources reported on Thursday.…

The Israeli army plans to build roads parallel to the existing main roads used by Israeli traffic in the Gaza Strip, prior to the implementation of the disengagement, Israeli sources…

A group of ‘pragmatic’ settlers from Gush Katif, acting as an ‘alternative leadership,’ are pushing for a deal that allows a quite pullout in exchange to moving en bloc to…

100 days away from the starting day for implementing the disengagement plan, there is no coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, PA source.   The Palestinian ministerial committee for…

Ex Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that the government of Israel and the U.S. Administration are investing efforts to downplay their major differences concerning West Bank settlement blocks,…

Gaza settlers have begun preparations for building camps in Gush Katif to accommodate tens of thousands of people who are expected to come to help them resist the evacuation. Settlers…

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted Wednesday as saying that Israel would be ready to reconsider destroying settlers’ homes if the pullout is coordinated with the Palestinian Authority. ‘The…

A report released by Jerusalem Center for Social and economic rights revealed that the Israeli government is planning to erect a chain of small Jewish neighborhoods in the east of…

The Israeli army reported on Tuesday that the Knesset is weighing the possibility of conducting amendments to some articles in the peace agreements which were singed between Israel and Egypt…

The Israeli Finance and Housing Ministries agreed on budget to absorb evacuated settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in July in parks built in the Western Negev…

Israeli army intends to disarm Jewish settlers in four West Bank settlements two week prior to evacuating the West Bank settlements, Israeli military officials said Monday. Settlers, however, said they…

As a decent person, I am supposed to feel compassion for the Gush Katif settlers. To embrace them. To shed a tear for their plight. And indeed, there are grounds…

Right wing activists, Opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan blocked the busy Ayalon Highway around Tel Aviv during Sunday morning rush hour, causing massive jams. Protesters blocked…

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will depart for the United States on Sunday to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney at Bush’s ranch in…

Dozens of settlers’ families moved recently into settlements and settlement outposts in Hebron, south of the West Bank. The WAFA news Agency reported that dozens of settlers came to the…

Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army issued written land confiscation memos to some residents of the city of Beit Jala and the villages of Al-Walajeh and Al-Khader. Adnan Al-Atrash,…

Israeli official sources reported on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leans to accept the recommendation of his defense minister Shaul Mofaz and retreat the cabinet decision to demolish…

Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon toured Friday Nitsanim area, which settlers of Gush Katif proposed to move to in their entirety. Sharon demanded that work starts immediately to build a…

U.S. President George Bush said on Friday he would tell Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that there can be no expansion of Jewish settlements under the U.S.-backed road map for…

The Israeli Peace Bloc “Gush Shalom” said that Sharon is appearing to be obeying the Israeli Supreme Court concerning the route of the Separation Wall; it became clear now that…

Israeli sources said that the new plan for Jerusalem, which would cost around $5 Millions, shows territorial contiguity between Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. this linkage annexes wide…

The Israeli Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz told senior security officers that he wants the settlers’ houses that will be evacuated in Gush Qatif settlements after the intended Israeli pullout…

Israeli vice Premier Shimon Peres met Thursday with U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney, and told him that for the time being Israel is not building new housing units near the…

Israeli army and police have recently set up a special command to coordinate the activities of selected elite combat units that will take part in the evacuation of settlements under…

The European Union called Thursday on Israel to observe its obligations, to freeze all settlement activity and to dismantle unauthorized settlers’ outposts, an EU statement said. The European Union expressed…

Yonatan Bassi, Disengagement Department head proposed to temporarily allocate the evacuated settlers in Ashkelon until the construction of their permanent residencies is finalized. Bassi met on Tuesday with a number…

Based on post 1948 Egyptian maps, the PA proposes that the northern borders of the Gaza Strip should be at least two kilometers north of where it is now. The…

The Palestinian Authority has presented a plan to American and Israeli officials for coordinating the planed pullout from inside the Gaza Strip and four small settlements in the northern West…

Settlers of Hafat Ma’oun settlement, in the Hebron Mountain area continued their attacks against the Palestinian residents and their farmlands. Resident of villages in the Hebron Mountain area said that…

As the Disengagement plan is moving into the Knesset’s legislative agenda, a number of Mk’s are moving the business and homes to areas slated for evacuation. National Union Party leader…

Settlers protesting the construction of a fence that separates between settlers and Palestinians in the old city of Hebron clashed on Wednesday morning with Israeli security forces. A police officer broke…

Jerusalem’s city engineer Uri Shitrit listed Tuesday three reasons that could prevent establishing contiguity between the settlement of Ma’alee Adumim and Jerusalem. There is no more publicly owned land in…

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that he would press Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at their meeting next week to abide by the road map peace plan…

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday the Bush administration will help with the reconstruction of Gaza after Israel’s withdrawal. The Palestinian Authority and International agencies estimate that around…

Representatives of Gush Katif settlements expressed ‘cautious optimism’ Tuesday after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The representatives’ decision to meet Sharon was described as a step that threatens…

Israeli vice Premier Shimon Peres said Tuesday he is going to Washington to seek U.S. financial aid for Israel’s intended withdrawal from inside the Gaza Strip and four small West…

Following a Tuesday meeting with U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Sharon’s top advisor Dov Weissglas said Tuesday that the American-Israeli differences over the grand expansion the largest West bank…

Around 70% of the settlers slated for evacuation under the terms of the disengagement plan will reach agreement with the disengagement administration, Yonatan Bassi, the head of the Disengagement Administration,…

The Israeli border police deployed on Monday, in the northern West Bank Israeli settlement of Yitzhar in an attempt to prevent settler violence against Palestinian residents and security officials. The…

A Letter drafted by two right wing Rabbis called the Israelis for extensive anti disengagement activities in order to prevent what they described as “the expulsion and destruction”, saying that…

If the calls to disobey orders continue, the deputy chairman of the Yesha Council of Settlements, Eliezer Hisdai, will ask army to draft him into the reserves as a volunteer…

Bir Zeit University Environment Health Center reported Friday that tests has revealed that the material settlers threw in quantities in Tiwani region near Hebron last week is toxic and dangerous,…

Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met privately with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday and agreed to ease the tension between them ‘for the sake of the unity of…

The Israeli peace bloc “Gush Shalom” said that the Gush Katif Settlers, who are willing to evacuate”, are unable to do so since the Israeli government did not decide yet…

  The Israeli peace bloc “Gush Shalom” said that the Gush Katif Settlers, who are willing to evacuate”, are unable to do so since the Israeli government did not decide…

Israeli Internal security minister, Gideon Ezra, said that police officers and troops participating in settlement evacuation in the Gaza Strip,  will not carry arms. The statements of Ezra came after…

A group of settlers from Keryat Arab’ settlement, in the center of Hebron, attacked a farmer while he was planting his orchard and forced him out of his land. A…

In move described as an escalation of the extreme right wing’s campaign against disengagement, a group of rabbis and far-right activists led by former chief rabbi, Avraham Shapira has urged…

A group of armed settlers from Yitzhar attacked Tuesday night Palestinian shepherds near the village of Aqraba in the nablus region and stole four horses. Mohamed Mayadma, the owner of…

Palestinians in Israel, West Bank organized several activities commemorating the 29th anniversary of the Land Day. In Bethlehem city, hundreds of Palestinians, and International Peace Activists marched towards the houses…

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Qidwa, criticized the American position concerning settlement blocs in the West Bank, and welcomed its position rejecting settlement expansion. After his meeting with the Foreign Minister…

Sources close to Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Wednesday Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with attempting to appoint ministers and deputy ministers for “improper reasons”. “The hand that gives…

Internal Security Minister in Israel, Gideon Ezra, said that he is considering disarming the settlers slatted for evacuation. Ezra said that a Yesha Council member initiated the idea during a…

Yehoda Glek, the previous spokesperson of the recruitment department in Israel, told the Israeli TV channel 2 after the Knesset voted down the public poll on disengagement, that “those who…

The fatal flaw in most analyses of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the assumption that if the Palestinians can just get a state of their own, then all will be fine.…

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with Likud rebels on Tuesday in an attempt to avoid a rift within the party after the Knesset overwhelmingly rejected the referendum bill. Coalition…

The Israeli Online daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Wednesday that right-wing MK Effie Eitam suggested to disarm settlers before implementing the Gaza pullout. Eitam well knows for his apposition to…

The Knesset passed Tuesday late in the night the 2005 state budget bill by 58 to 36, marking Shron’s second victory over disengagement opponents in less than 48 hours. The…

The Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei criticized the ‘conflicting’ American positions on the settlements Israel is building and expanding in the West Bank. ‘We have heard two conflicting positions by…

Israeli police has arrested 3 Israelis, including a soldier, on suspicions of attempting to sell weapons to right wing activists to be used in hostile operations with the aim of…

‘Sharon has ruined chances of bringing the disengagement plan to the people for a decision and thus prevent a violent confrontation and a civil war,’ the Yesha settlers’ Council said…

Aides of Israeli finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke few days silence, fired back, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his aides with using “mafia style”, in silencing anyone who…

35 settler families from the Nissanit settlement in the Gaza Strip signed an agreement with the Israeli Disengagement Department, in order to move to Karmia area behind the Green Line,…

Israeli housing ministry has ordered around 600 familes, who recently moved into Gaza Strip settlements to protest the disengagement plan, to leave the Palestinian strip. In recent weeks a total…

The National Office for Land Defense revealed that Israel annexed during the months of February and March 93132.5 Dunams, and approved constructing 10291 homes for settlers in the West Bank.…

‘We can’t expect to receive explicit American agreement to build freely in the settlements,’ Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting. The large blocs of settlement in the…

As expected, the Knesset plenum on Monday afternoon rejected the bill on the disengagement referendum by a vote of 72 to 39. The overwhelming majority represents a sound victory for…

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, demanded Israel to announce a truce and to halt all settlement activities. “We agreed to the cease fire, and we demand Israel to calm the situation…

Sunday, Israeli soldiers handed on dozens of residents of Nahhalin, west of Bethlehem, military orders to evacuate from their lands within 45 days. The Popular Committee Against the Wall reported…

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Saturday that the American assurances on the major West Bank settlement blocs stands firm.  ‘There is nothing to worry about regarding the blocs. There…

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Shinui leaders Yosef Lapid and Avraham Poraz arrived at an agreement by which the secular party will vote in favor of the 2005 state…

Rashid Sbeih, a resident of Aqraba east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus stated that the residents are suffering of continuous attacks carried out settlers groups from a…

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that all Israeli settlement built on Palestinian territories occupied during the 1967 war are illegal. ‘We have accepted to establish our state within the…

Israeli settlers attacked Friday with wooden sticks Rahmah Howari, 50, while standing near her home in the village of Einyabous south of the West Bank city of Nablus. Howari, who…

Settlers from Yitzhar attacked once again in 48 hours the village of Asira al-Kabaliya. a group of armed settlers broke into the village on Saturday night opened fire at homes…

The United States will release a statement on U.S. policy regarding Israel’s construction plans in West Bank settlements as early as today, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon told…

The Israeli civil administration in the northern West Bank area revealed plans to expropriate some 224 Dunams, (60 acres) in the village of Kufur Thulth and many other villages east…

A Palestinian medical source in Hebron reported that a settler woman of the illegal outpost of ‘Ramat Yeshai’ in Hebron attacked and stoned a 9-year-old child, while the soldiers, present…

Senior aides of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed Thursday concerns that the government might fail to muster a Knesset majority for the budget, leaving the country with one choice;…

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Shinui chairman Yosef Lapid were slated to meet Saturday evening to discuss the 2005 state budget Cracks in Likud widen, Olmert slams Netanyahu Israeli…

Two senior U.S. envoys met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday to ask pointed questions about plans to expand the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim in violation of the…

The Israeli Knesset Finance Committee passed the State Budget and the Economic Arrangements bill Wednesday night by a majority of ten to nine. The Israeli government so far lacks majority…

Israeli Police detained Tuesday evening 66 settlers at the Glilot junction north of Tel Aviv. Police believes were in way to block traffic in an unauthorized protest against the disengagement…

The members of the Israeli Knesset’s Law, Justice and Constitution Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would allow a national referendum on the disengagement plan.  The bill passed by…

Tuesday morning, residents of the southern Mount Hebron area reported that Jewish settlers attempted to poison flocks of sheep owned by local shepherds. The settlers reportedly dispersed contaminated seed over…

An Israeli security source reported on Tuesday that the military intends to dismantle a village protected by the army in the southern Gaza Strip, and move Palestinian and Egyptian collaborators…

Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed confidence Tuesday that the state budget would be approved by the Knesset next week.  Netanyahu also said the Likud would remain united, despite the…

Israeli security sources said Monday that the plan to establish two new settlements between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem will be completed within a few weeks.  Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz…

A group of Gush Katif settlers have handed the Israeli security service a list of names of Israeli right wing extremists, demanding moving them out of their settlement. The Settlers…

The Israeli Defense Ministry has completed a widespread aerial photography operation revealing extensive building in West Bank settlements and unauthorized outposts in recent months.  The operation was ordered following a…

About 10,000 people attended a rally in support of disengagement Saturday night at Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv.  The rally was organized by the Coalition of the Majority, the umbrella…

Despite an Israel army decree barring Israelis from relocating to the Gaza Strip, MK Effi Eitam (Religious Zionism) and his family announced Saturday that they would be moving from the…

Thursday, nearly 10000 settlers rallied at Naveh Dekalim settlement in the Gush Katif settlement Bloc against the disengagement plan; the settlers at the rally were divided between supporters of an…

A group of extremist settlers from Sousa settlements, east of Yatta in the south of Hebron , barred dozens of residents form reaching their fields, while the Israeli police, did…

Settlers in Hebron struck a Palestinian wall building with big hammers, causing the roof to collapse. Israeli police arrested two of the attackers.   The settlers also threw stones, eggs and…

Israeli army radio reported on Tuesday that the higher command of the Israeli army issued direct orders against Israeli soldiers who refuse to evacuate settlements under disengagement plan. Major General…

Israeli soldiers arrested Monday two West Bank settlers suspected of opening fire in the Palestinian village of Akid, west of the settlement of Ariel.  Local source in the Palestinian village…

Pullout opponents stepped up campaign against the disengagement plan, sending SMS messages asking Israelis to change residency address to Gush Katif settlement Bloc. The email, which is sent through the cellular network, urges…

Construction on Settlements outposts in some locations in the West Bank continues despite the latest report by attorney Talia Sasson on government involvement in building and funding ‘unauthorized’ outposts, Israeli…

According to Arabs48 electronic news site, Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon intends to propose to his ministers, in the Sunday’s cabinet meeting, moving the activities of the ‘settlement section’ of…