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SvennoJ on 23 January 2024
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Westbank updates

Israeli forces demolish house near Hebron

Israeli forces have demolished a Palestinian-owned house near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

The house in the village of Lasifar, southeast of Yatta, belonged to a Palestinian named Mahmoud Khalil Abu Qubaita, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, which added that about 10 people lived in the house and the owner had legal documents proving his ownership.

This comes as attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank have surged during the war on Gaza.

More than two dozen Palestinians arrested in occupied West Bank

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says that Israeli forces detained 25 Palestinians overnight across the occupied West Bank. This brings the total number of Palestinians arrested since October 7 to 6,220.

Lack of sanctions will embolden Israel to ‘annex West Bank’

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry says not sanctioning hardline Israeli forces and settlers will pave the way for them to annex the entirety of the occupied West Bank. “Absence of effective international sanctions encourages the occupying forces and settler militias to proceed with annexing and expropriating the West Bank,” it said in a statement.

On Monday, France’s foreign minister said he was hopeful the EU would impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who are committing acts of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Car showroom burned down in occupied West Bank

The owner of the showroom, Abdel Aziz Hamed, told Al Jazeera there is no confirmation that illegal Israeli settlers set fire to it and a police investigation is under way. Settlers from an illegal outpost near Beitin attacked his showroom before, he noted.

Aziz Hamed said he received a phone call at dawn from people living near his business who told him it was ablaze and firefighters had been called in. They were unable to stop the flames, however, and he lost all the vehicles in the showroom.





Israeli Knesset displays artefacts stolen from Gaza

The Israeli military has been caught displaying artefacts stolen from Gaza in its parliament, the Knesset. The stolen artefacts were discovered when Eli Askozido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, posted a photo of the antiques on his personal Instagram account with the caption: “A small showcase was placed in the Knesset.”

He also posted a video saying the Israeli military had contacted the authority to examine a warehouse full of antiques in Gaza. “Good week, the deputy director of the Antiquities Authority was rushed to Gaza to check a warehouse full of antiques,” he wrote.

Askozido has since pulled down the post and issued a statement claiming the items were examined and “left undisturbed at the site”. Earlier this week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations urged the UN to investigate reports of looted archaeological artefacts in Gaza, saying in a statement that the “ongoing genocide” is “targeting all aspects of Palestinian culture and heritage”.




Pro-Palestinian protesters attacked with ‘foul-smelling substance’ on Columbia University campus

Columbia University Provost Dennis Mitchell has described as “deeply troubling” an incident where students at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York were sprayed with a “foul-smelling substance”.

The alleged perpetrators have been banned from campus while the New York Police Department investigates “what appear to have been serious crimes, possibly hate crimes”, Mitchell said in a letter to students, published by the Columbia Spectator student newspaper. “We are outraged and horrified that eight Columbia students have been hospitalised” after being sprayed with an “illegal chemical-based weapon”, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and Columbia Jewish Voice for Peace said in a joint statement.

The two student groups alleged the assailants who carried out the attack on the university’s campus in New York on Friday have links to the Israeli military. According to the Columbia Spectator report, several students identified the substance as “skunk water“, which has been used against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

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