Palestine

04 Jan 2022; MEMO: Hamas will not reconcile with anyone who believes in security cooperation with Israel, a member of the organisation's political bureau said yesterday.

Speaking to Al-Watan Voice, Mahmoud Al-Zahar said: "The message of Hamas is very clear: Resistance is winning even if Hamas vanished… The liberation of Palestine is a fact which will materialise soon."

"We resist the Israeli occupation of Palestine and we resist the Israeli aggression on Palestinian prisoners, Jerusalem and worshippers."

04 Jan 2022; MEMO: Israel yesterday stopped work on the construction of a mosque in occupied East Jerusalem's Issawiya neighbourhood, Safa news agency reported.

Armed Israeli police raided the Palestinian neighbourhood and posted an order to halt the construction of Al-Taqwa Mosque.

Palestinian activist Mohammed Abu Hummus told Safa that the Israeli occupation ordered that construction be stopped under the pretext of that the mosque had no building permit.

03 Jan 2022; MEMO: Ugur Ibrahim Altay, Mayor of Turkish city of Konya, reportedly pledged to rebuild the house of a Palestinian family destroyed by the Israeli occupation in occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Safa news agency reported on Sunday.

Owner of the house, Marwa al Atrash, told Safa that Altay did not contact her, but she knew about his intention to rebuild her house from the media.

03 Jan 2022; MEMO: An Israeli military court extended on Sunday the detention of Sheikh Hassan Yousef for several days over claims of "inciting terror" and "supporting a terrorist group."

According to the Israeli police sources, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a senior Hamas official in the occupied West Bank, would be charged in the coming days.

31 Dec 2021; MEMO: A Palestinian youth was killed by the Israeli army on Friday in northern West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, and reported by Anadolu News Agency.

In a statement, the Ministry said Amir Atef Rayyan from Qarawat Bani Hassan town was shot dead by the Israeli soldiers in Salfit city.

According to the Israeli army, Rayyan was shot dead for allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing attack.

RAMALLAH, Dec 31 (NNN-WAFA) – The number of Palestinians living in the Palestinian territories, Israel and abroad, amounted to about 14 million by the end of this year, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said yesterday.

Among the 14 million Palestinians, 5.3 million live in the Palestinian territories, 1.7 million in Israel, and over seven million abroad, the PCBS said in a report.

In the Palestinian territories, 3.2 million live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while 2.1 million in the coastal enclave of the Gaza Strip.

RAMALLAH, Dec 31 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas yesterday told Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that, Israel’s economic and security steps cannot be an alternative to a political track.

During a phone conversation, Abbas and Putin exchanged congratulations on the occasion of Christmas and New Year holidays, wishing peace and stability would prevail in the region and the world, an official statement said.

The two leaders discussed the latest developments related to the Palestinian cause, it said.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli troops shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian man as he ran toward a bus stop in the occupied West Bank on Friday wielding a knife in an attempted stabbing attack, the military said.

It said the alleged attacker exited a car at a junction and advanced toward a group of Israeli civilians and soldiers waiting at the bus stop. He was shot before reaching them.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says the man, who has not yet been identified, is in critical condition.

31 Dec 2021; MEMO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has lost his credibility and respect among the Arab world, an Egyptian politician said yesterday.

Hassan Nafaa, political science professor at Cairo University, told Al-Resalah news site that there was no "valid reason for Abbas to meet [Israeli Defence Minister] Gantz, at a time when the Israeli policies have not changed and crimes against Palestinians have not stopped."

31 Dec 2021; MEMO: "We have no more land left for confiscation. The [Israeli] settlers have turned into an entity organised to terrorise and deport Palestinians," the head of Palestine's Land Research Centre (LRC) has said.