Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for May 28, to June 3, 2016.
Israeli troops kill a Palestinian woman in the Wets Bank and attack farmers and fishers in Gaza, in the meantime Israel’s government objects the Paris Conference for peace. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
The Nonviolence Report
Let’s begin our weekly report as usual with the nonviolent activities organized in the West Bank. Many residents and their international and Israeli supporters were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when soldiers attacked the weekly protest in the central West Bank village of al Nabi Saleh on Friday.
Troops attacked the protest at the village entrance using live rounds, tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Later troops stormed and fired tear gas at residents homes, many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation as a result.
At the nearby villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin, Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters as soon as they reached the gate in the wall that separates local farmers from their lands. Many protesters suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation and were treated by field medics at both locations. In Bil’in some olive trees caught fire that was caused by tear gas bombs fired by Israeli troops. <br
In the meantime, many civilians also were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation as Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest organized by the villagers of Kufer Kadum in northern West Bank.
Also on Friday, in Bethlehem, at least 400 Palestinian and Israeli activists marched at the settlers’ road 60 against the Israeli occupation and the violence in creates. Combatants for peace organized the protest. Leftwing Israeli lawmakers also joined the protest.
The Political Report
This week Paris Conference is opened, amidst Israeli government objections. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari has more:
On Friday, Paris international conference opened in the French capital with the participation of key international players, including Washington, European Union and some other Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
France says that conference is an attempt to revive the stalled Middle East peace and make sure negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians would resume.
Both Israel and Palestine have not taken part in the conference. Meanwhile, Israel had earlier refused the conference , saying that only unilateral unconditional negotiations with Palestinians is the way to revive peace.
The Palestinian Authority, welcomed the conference, while a number of Palestinian political factions, including the Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Popular front for the liberation of Palestine and the Democratic front for the Liberation of Palestine, had rejected the conference.
The factions contend that any peace initiative that revives futile peace negotiations, would undermine basic Palestinian legitimate rights, including right of return to historical Palestine.
In the meantime, European Union, warned of the possibility that the Oslo peace accords of 1993, would collapse , once and for all , unless there is genuine intervention by key international players.
For IMEMC News, I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza.
The West Bank and Gaza Report
This week Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian woman at a West Bank checkpoint, in the meantime Israel’s navy increased attacks targeting fishers in Gaza. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura Reports:
On Thursday of this week, Ansar Harsha, 25, was killed by Isralei soldiers at a military checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem. The Israeli military claimed that the slain woman “attempted to stab a soldier,” before she was shot and seriously wounded.
An eyewitness told local media that an army officer opened fire on the woman while she was more than three meters (approximately 10 feet) away from the soldiers. The Israeli army said there were no injuries among its soldiers.
Moreover, Israeli soldiers invaded, on Friday at dawn, the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and clashed with many local youths, wounding two Palestinians with live fire, while one of them suffered a life-threatening head injury. At another invasion, Israeli soldiers shot and injured, on Tuesday at night, two Palestinians in Qalqilia, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
At least 99 Palestinians were kidnapped this week by Israeli troops during invasions targeting West Bank communities and occupied Jerusalem. Among those kidnapped, there were 19 children.
In the Gaza Strip, one fisher was shot and injured by Israeli navy fire, Tuesday, and four others were kidnapped, after the navy ships attacked them in Gaza waters, near the shore of Wadi Gaza area, southwest of Gaza city.
Another navy attacks were also reported on Tuesday and Thursday of this week. Forcing fishers to go back to shore. The attack escalated shortly after Israel, unilaterally, reduced the fishing zone in Gaza territorial waters to only six nautical miles, in all of Gaza’s waters, from the northern to the southern parts of the coastal region.
Last March, Israel decided to increase the fishing zone in the area extending from Gaza Valley to the southern part of the coastal region, to nine nautical miles, but kept the zone in northern Gaza at six nautical miles.
Also in Gaza this week, Israeli soldiers stationed near the southern and northern borders of the coastal region have opened fire at Palestinian farmers forcing them to leave their farmlands. Such attacks wee reported on Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week.
For IMEMC News this is Ghassan Bannoura.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine. This was the Weekly report for for May 28, to June 3, 2016. From the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www-dot-imemc-dot-org, This week’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and me Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura.
