Embassy of the State of Palestine

Foreign Minister Murray McCully says New Zealand is deeply concerned at the announcement by Israel’s Civil Administration Authority that they will appropriate 400 hectares of privately owned Palestinian land near Bethlehem for Israeli settlements.

“Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem undermine efforts to negotiate a final status agreement with the Palestinians based on a two state solution,” Mr McCully says.

The Israeli leadership’s recent, criminal decision to expropriate more than 3000 dunums (almost 1000 acres) of Palestinian land, represents the largest Israeli land grab in the Occupied State of Palestine in three decades. The leadership intends to build a new settlement-city called Gvaot on the lands of five Palestinian villages in Western Bethlehem, known by Israel as the “Gush Etzion bloc”, an occupied area that Israel aims to illegally annex

PLO Executive Committee member, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, strongly denounced Israel’s announcement to confiscate 1,000 acres (3,811 dunams) of Palestinian land from the towns of Surif, Husan, al-Jabaa and Bethlehem and said:

“Today’s announcement clearly represents Israel’s deliberate intent to wipe out any Palestinian presence on the land and to willfully impose a de facto one-state solution.”

The Palestinian government has called on the United Nations and foreign states with citizens serving in the Israeli army to investigate and try them for war crimes committed during Israel’s latest onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday announced a long-term ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.

In a short televised address, Abbas said the agreement would go into effect at 7 p.m.

"We confirm complete appreciation to the Egyptian efforts which started long ago seeking to satisfy all sides. Qatar also played a role in that. We also would like to mention that (US Secretary of State John) Kerry was also in touch with us for the same purpose and so we thank all those who played roles," Abbas said.

The challenge facing Palestine's footballers is not just confined to the pitch. Over the next few days I will share some of the stories, both heartbreaking and uplifting, of a footballing nation largely unknown outside its own region, but one that, through all the adversity it has faced, will take its place in Australia for the 2015 Asian Cup.

Today marks 51 days of the barbaric aggression that Israel carried out and continues to carry out against our people in Gaza Strip. During this period, the number of martyrs rose up to more than 2000, and the number of injured to more than 10,000 injured with tens of thousands of houses destroyed. Unfortunately, until this moment, the attack and the aggression continues indiscriminately and in most cases against innocents and civilians who are the primary victims of this aggression. As everyone knows, scores of families, probably more than sixty, were completely eliminated.

Within the last 24-hours, Israeli occupation forces killed at least 13 Palestinians and injured more than 38. Israeli warplanes relentlessly bombed on Saturday the Zafer Tower, a 14-story building which consists of 45 apartments. As a result at least 17 people were injured, including women and children and 45 families have been displaced.
As Israel continues its deliberate attacks on the defenseless Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the death toll has risen to 2105 and more than 10,640 wounded. Among those killed are at least 567 children, 259 women and 100 elderly.

Sina Institute at Birzeit University, with the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation (CCHP) and University of Trento from Italy through its spin-off company OKKAM s.r.l, have deployed an innovative and pioneering electronic tourist guide for heritage sites in Bethlehem, using QR technologies. The initiative is part of the EU FP7 funded SIERA project.

The goal of the initiative is to enhance the experience of Palestine’s visitors and valorize the cultural heritage of Bethlehem City, through an innovative use of smartphones and tablets.

"I don’t like you, death
But I’m not afraid of you
And I know that my body is your bed
And my spirit is your bed cover
I know that your banks are narrow for me
I don’t love you, death
But I’m not afraid of you".
-One of Samih al-Qasim’s final poems
Beloved Palestinian poet Samih al-Qasim died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer, following a worsening of his health this past week. He was 75.
Al-Qasim — whose stature in Palestine ranked alongside Mahmoud Darwish’s — will be widely mourned.