The occupation imposes a strict closure on the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and attacks the people and solidarity activists

Jerusalem,  WAFA - This evening, Thursday, the Israeli occupation authorities imposed a strict closure on the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, coinciding with the aggression of the occupation police on the residents of the neighborhood, its stationers and solidarity activists.

Our correspondent in Jerusalem stated that "the occupation police surrounded the neighborhood and imposed a complete and strict closure on all its entrances, in preparation for the storming of settlers who are preparing to attack the neighborhood's residents."

She added that "the occupation police assaulted the families and solidarity activists, and prevented the paramedics from entering to provide treatment for the injured," noting that the occupation police attacked the residents and surrounded them near the house of the Salem family, who is threatened with forced eviction in the western region of the neighborhood, and iron barriers were set up at the entrances to the neighborhood to prevent Entry of solidarity to support the people of the neighborhood.

For 6 days, the neighborhood has witnessed repeated attacks by the occupation police and settlers against the residents, their properties, and those in solidarity with them.

Dozens of families in the neighborhood are still facing the threat of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement from their homes in favor of settlement projects, as settlers continue their attacks on the neighborhood, while the occupation authorities tighten their arbitrary measures against its residents in an attempt to displace them.

Salfit, Wafa - The Israeli occupation forces arrested, this Thursday evening, seven boys from the town of Deir Ballut, west of Salfit.

Local sources told "Wafa" that the occupation forces arrested the seven boys after holding them for several hours at the military checkpoint at the entrance to the town. They are: Osaid Nasr Abdullah (17 years), Ezz Rabah Qassem (17 years), and Issa Kamel Qassem (15 years). Osama Anwar Mustafa, 15, Muhammad Hossam Moussa, 16, Muhammad Samir Mustafa, 14, and Saif Rabah Qassem, 15.

Israel refuses to cooperate with a UN commission of inquiry into its violations against the Palestinians

On Thursday, Israel refused to cooperate with a special commission set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate its violations against Palestinians, following speculation that the air strikes carried out by Israel in Gaza in May 2021 included war crimes.

Israel officially announced Thursday that it will not cooperate with a special commission set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate violations against Palestinians, saying the investigation and its head are biased against Israel.

The Hebrew newspaper "Haaretz" reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the request of the committee headed by the UN envoy, "Navi Pillay" to come to Israel as part of the investigation into the war that erupted in Gaza last May.

According to "Haaretz", Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Merav Shahar, sent a message to Pillay, stating that Tel Aviv sees her as "a figure who leads an anti-Israel agenda."

The council had established a three-person investigation committee last May, days after an 11-day war between Israel and the Palestinian resistance, in which Israel killed more than 260 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, and 14 people were killed in Israel at the hands of the resistance.

At the time, the Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, declared that Israeli actions, which included air strikes on civilian areas, may constitute war crimes.

Since then, a number of international rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have said that the Israeli attacks appear to constitute war crimes. Bachelet and Human Rights Watch explained that Hamas' indiscriminate firing of rockets at Israeli cities also violated international laws of war.

The commission's responsibilities include more than the war in Gaza. The Commission of Inquiry is the council's most effective tool for exposing human rights violations and attacks.

This commission's mandate includes monitoring human rights abuses in Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank. It is the first commission of inquiry of its kind to carry a "ongoing" mandate.

Israel has repeatedly accused the United Nations, especially the Human Rights Council, of bias, as Israel is the only country in the world whose human rights record is discussed in every session of the Council.

Israel has also repeatedly rejected international calls for investigations into its wartime conduct and treatment of Palestinians.

Last December, Tel Aviv failed to pass a proposal before the United Nations General Assembly to cancel the budget of the fact-finding committee set up by the UN Human Rights Council, as 125 countries voted against the Israeli proposal, presented by the Group of 77, China and the Arab Group, while the proposal received only support 8 votes, including Israel and the United States.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has opened an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes, one that Israel says is motivated by anti-Semitism and part of an international campaign to "delegitimize it".

A growing number of rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and local Israeli groups have said that Israel's treatment of Palestinians, including the Arab minority, amounts to apartheid, and Israel strongly rejects the label as anti-Semitic.

Saudi Arabia threatens the perpetrators of harassment on planes with severe penalties, What are they?

To complement the penalties it recently approved regarding the crime of harassment that is spreading in society, the Saudi authorities have announced strict penalties for anyone who commits any acts that involve harassment or violate public morals on board civil aircraft.

The local newspaper, Okaz, quoted the Saudi Public Prosecution as announcing the imposition of decisive penalties on anyone involved in a crime of harassment on board civil aircraft.

In this context, the Public Prosecution warned against committing any acts on board civil aviation that involve physical violence, assault, harassment, or practices contrary to public morals towards a passenger or any of its crew members.

She explained that the perpetrator of these acts will be punished with imprisonment for a period of up to five years and a fine of up to half a million riyals, equivalent to approximately 133,000 US dollars.

Since May 2018, Saudi Arabia has announced a "law against harassment" by royal decree, with the aim of "combating the crime of harassment and preventing its occurrence, applying the punishment to its perpetrators and protecting the victim."

Then, in its session on January 11, the Saudi Cabinet added a new paragraph to Article Six of the Anti-Harassment Crime Law stating that it is permissible to publish a summary of the judgment in local newspapers at the expense of the convict.