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PA Refuses to Pay Financial Compensations to Families of Israelis Killed in 2001 Shooting

Fireworks descend near Israeli police officers during clashes with Palestinian protesters in the East Jerusalem. (Reuters)
Fireworks descend near Israeli police officers during clashes with Palestinian protesters in the East Jerusalem. (Reuters)
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PA Refuses to Pay Financial Compensations to Families of Israelis Killed in 2001 Shooting

Fireworks descend near Israeli police officers during clashes with Palestinian protesters in the East Jerusalem. (Reuters)
Fireworks descend near Israeli police officers during clashes with Palestinian protesters in the East Jerusalem. (Reuters)

The Palestinian Authority (PA) refused paying any financial compensation to the families of Israelis killed during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which began in 2000 and lasted several years.

“We do not pay the occupiers… the resistance of the Palestinian people against the occupation is a legitimate resistance according by international law,” said PA Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe.

Qaraqe was responding to a decision by an Israeli court imposing 62 million shekels ($ 3.50) in compensation for Israeli deaths in 2001. Three Israelis were killed in the shooting, which took place during the Second Intifada.

More so, the Palestinian official warned against Israel’s court policies, which recently began imposing severe financial compensations on Palestinian detainees.

"Implementing Israeli criminal law to residents in occupied territories goes against Geneva Conventions and to the principle of protecting civilian populations. This is a step towards annexing the West Bank to Israel and establishing a system of repression against the Palestinian people,” added Qaraqe.

He added that the Palestinian people "have the right to claim compensation for the human and material losses suffered by the oppression and brutality of the occupation, and by systematic Israeli and settler terrorism."

An Israeli court accused the PA and six Palestinian prisoners of killing three Israelis in August 2001 on Route 443 when they were returning home.

The Court ruled that the PA would pay 40 percent of the sum and that the prisoners would pay 60 percent.

The PA persistently rejected heeding the decisions of the Israeli courts on the matter.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces stormed most of the West Bank and confiscated gold on Monday, arresting some 21 Palestinians at dawn. Palestinians were surprised by the Israeli army’s incursion into the center of Ramallah and break and entry into jewelry shops.

It remains unclear as to why the soldiers confiscated gold from a retail shop, which operates under PA laws and regulations.

Israeli troops raided “Jawhar,” a jewelry shop owned by Izz al-Asbah, who said that his shop was looted.

He said that confiscated gold amounts to over 1.5 kg.

Israeli forces rarely break into gold shops, but have previously stormed exchange shops and large institutions under the pretext of pursuing funds belonging to anti-occupation factions.

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Arab World

Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

At least two people were killed and four rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Sunday in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, state media reported.

Rescue teams were continuing to dig through the rubble. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building when it fell.

The bodies pulled out were of a child and a woman, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dozens of people crowded around the site of the crater left by the collapsed building, with some shooting in the air.

The building was in the neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, one of the poorest areas in Lebanon’s second largest city, where residents have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure. Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, according to The AP news.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced that those injured in the collapse would receive treatment at the state’s expense.

The national syndicate for property owners in a statement called the collapse the result of “blatant negligence and shortcomings of the Lebanese state toward the safety of citizens and their housing security,” and said it is “not an isolated incident.”

The syndicate called for the government to launch a comprehensive national survey of buildings at risk of collapse.

Arab World

Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.

Arab World

Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.