The National Association of Human Rights Defenders strongly condemns the Israeli occupation’s decision to transfer management of the Islamic section of the Ibrahimi Mosque from Hebron Municipality to a settler religious council linked to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement.

This move is a dangerous escalation and a direct attack on Palestinian sovereignty and the Islamic identity of the mosque. It is part of the ongoing Judaization policy that began with the 1994 massacre and the unjust division of the mosque, which gave 60% of it to settlers.

Transferring authority to a settler body is not administrative—it deepens settler control, violates international law, and threatens the cultural and religious heritage of Hebron.

We call on:

• The Palestinian Authority to take urgent action.
• UNESCO and the international community to intervene and protect this World Heritage Site.
• Palestinians to remain steadfast and resist imposed settler realities.

The Ibrahimi Mosque is and will remain a purely Islamic endowment. All efforts to erase its identity will fail in the face of Palestinian resilience.

The National Associationof Human Rights Defenders
Hebron – Palestine

Witness how the sadism of Israeli occupation soldiers is manifested against innocent civilians.

The soldiers detained a group of Palestinian women in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood and, under the threat of weapons, forced them to stand for a long time facing the wall.

شاهد كيف تتجسد سادية جنود الإحتلال الإسرائيلي إتجاه المواطنيين الأبرياء .

حيث قام جنود الإحتلال بإحتجاز مجموعة من النساء الفلسطينيات في منطقة حارة ابو اسنينة وإجبارهم تحت تهديد السلاح بالوقوف فترة طويلة ووجوهم في الحائط.

The National Association of the Human Rights Defenders in Palestine strongly condemns and deeply denounces the United States’ decision to impose sanctions on Dr. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, for her courageous and professionally grounded reporting that exposed the grave violations and crimes committed against the Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip.

This decision constitutes a dangerous assault on the independence of the United Nations system and a blatant attempt to intimidate international experts and deter them from fulfilling their duty to expose the truth and hold perpetrators accountable. It also sets a dangerous precedent that threatens to silence independent voices that challenge violations of international law and human rights.

We emphasize that Dr. Albanese has carried out her mandate in full accordance with her UN appointment, with utmost professionalism, independence, and moral integrity. Rather than respecting her work, the U.S. administration chose to use sanctions as a political weapon against a UN mandate-holder who refuses to be silenced or politicized.

Accordingly, we affirm the following:

1. We categorically reject the U.S. sanctions and consider them a blatant violation of the principle of independence of international bodies.

2. We call on the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to take urgent action to protect their experts from political interference or threats.

3. We urge all international human rights organizations to condemn these sanctions and pressure the United States to immediately revoke them.

4. We express our full solidarity with Dr. Francesca Albanese and call on her to continue her vital work without hesitation. She remains a voice for justice in a time of silence and complicity.

5. We call upon governments and states around the world to issue clear and unequivocal statements condemning the U.S. threats and punitive measures against UN experts, as such actions constitute a direct threat to the international system of accountability and justice.

These sanctions will not silence the truth — they will only further expose the system of impunity that has long shielded Israeli war criminals from justice.

Glory to all human rights defenders.
Freedom for the Palestinian people.

Issued by:The National Association of the Human Rights Defenders in Palestine
Hebron – Palestine

Israeli settlers assault a two-year-old Palestinian baby girl.

The baby, Sarah Amir Danna, was attacked while walking with her mother near the military checkpoint at Shuhada Street in Hebron city centre.

A group of settlers was present in the area, and one of them—estimated to be in his forties—brutally kicked the child in the head, causing her to fall to the ground unconscious.

She was taken to the hospital with bruises and injuries. Israeli occupation soldiers who were present at the time of the incident did not intervene or stop the settler.

Israeli settlers organized a provocative march on what they call “Lag BaOmer.” The march started from the settlement of “Kiryat Arba” and moved through streets and areas that are closed off and surrounded by settlements.

The march began in the areas of Wadi al-Ghrous, Jaber neighborhood, and Wadi al-Husain, and it is expected to continue until it reaches the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque and Shuhada Street in the center of Hebron.

It is well known that during such marches, settlers often assault Palestinian families living in these isolated areas surrounded by military checkpoints. They light large fires, chant anti-Arab slogans, and burn the flags of countries that support Palestine as well as those of international institutions.

Earlier today, the Human Rights Defenders Association issued a warning to Palestinian residents—especially families surrounded by settlements and closed-off areas—to exercise caution and vigilance against possible attacks by Israeli settlers on this day.

I interviewed a dozen shopkeepers whose businesses ranged from a single-cart produce stand near the city center to a family-owned (60 years) artisan woodcraft shop on the main street headed down to Old City. There was a general consensus that the strike was a good idea, but it wasn’t unanimous. What was unanimous was the sentiment of solidarity for the Gaza martyrs and those still suffering from unchecked barbarity and oppression by the occupation. Make no mistake: the term “Israeli Defense Forces” is an outright lie. It is “Israeli Occupation Forces.”

The army. What city or country has its own army wandering around, terrorizing and arresting common people? Israel, that’s who. Palestinians aren’t even deemed citizens in their own land, a land they have lived in for thousands of years. Hence the apartheid military laws and occupation and oppression they live under, powered by the most corrupt and insane country on the planet today, “The United States of America.” There’s another lie: the U.S. isn’t even close to being united. It’s the twenty-first-century iteration of the Roman Empire, with corruption and greed as the rule, and the citizenry being trampled by unfit government. It can’t fall soon enough. And when the U.S. falls, Israel will fall, which also can’t come soon enough.

Originally, this piece was meant to present the array of opinions of those shopkeepers and few customers who participated in the survey of a dozen or so questions with me. However, the story and plight of one shopkeeper in particular, whose story wasn’t all that different from most of the others, moved me so much that his is now the focus.

On 7 April 2025, there was a general labor strike in Al-Khalil (Hebron), West Bank, illegally occupied Palestinian territories. Merchants great and small–in my estimation 95 – 98%–participated in the strike, keeping their businesses closed, in solidarity and in protest against the ongoing genocide perpetrated by illegal Israeli occupation troops, in violation of ceasefire terms, in Gaza.

I interviewed a dozen shopkeepers whose businesses ranged from a single-cart produce stand near the city center to a family-owned (60 years) artisan woodcraft shop on the main street headed down to Old City. There was a general consensus that the strike was a good idea, but it wasn’t unanimous. What was unanimous was the sentiment of solidarity for the Gaza martyrs and those still suffering from unchecked barbarity and oppression by the occupation. Make no mistake: the term “Israeli Defense Forces” is an outright lie. It is “Israeli Occupation Forces.”

The army. What city or country has its own army wandering around, terrorizing and arresting common people? Israel, that’s who. Palestinians aren’t even deemed citizens in their own land, a land they have lived in for thousands of years. Hence the apartheid military laws and occupation and oppression they live under, powered by the most corrupt and insane country on the planet today, “The United States of America.” There’s another lie: the U.S. isn’t even close to being united. It’s the twenty-first-century iteration of the Roman Empire, with corruption and greed as the rule, and the citizenry being trampled by unfit government. It can’t fall soon enough. And when the U.S. falls, Israel will fall, which also can’t come soon enough.

Originally, this piece was meant to present the array of opinions of those shopkeepers and few customers who participated in the survey of a dozen or so questions with me. However, the story and plight of one shopkeeper in particular, whose story wasn’t all that different from most of the others, moved me so much that his is now the focus.