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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for October 9, to 15th, 2010
The Arab League consider submitting a proposal to the United Nations for approval to reject Israeli refusal to stop settlement construction in the West bank and settlers stop up attacks against Palestinians farmers and steal thear olives these stores and more are coming up stay tuned
Nonviolence Lets us begin our weekly report as usual with the nonviolent activities in West Bank IMIMc’s Ana Irazabeal has the details
This week nonviolent actions against the Israeli wall were organized in the village of Bil’in and Nil’in, central West Bank, in addition to the southern West Bank village of Al Ma’ssara.
In Al Ma’ssara , The protest started at midday, as Israeli and international protesters joined the villagers and marched to farmer’s land, where Israel’s wall is under construction. Troops stopped the protest at the village entrance.
During the face-off, troops fired tear gas and sound bombs at the protesters to force them back to the village. An international supporter was hit in the head with a sound bomb and transported to the local clinic for treatment. Others were treated for effects of tear gas inhalation.
A number of civilians suffered effects of tear gas inhalation on Friday when Israeli troops attacked them during the weekly anti wall protest in Nil’in. The protesters demanded to reach the villagers’ lands on the other side of the wall to harvest their olive trees. Palestinian farmers start harvesting their olive trees on the first week of October, with the season lasting until the end of the month. During this time, settler and military attacks often escalate against West Bank farmers.
As soon as protesters reached the gate of the wall, stationed troops fired tear gas and sound bombs at the protesters. Around a dozen locals and internationals were lightly wounded, suffering tear gas inhalation. They were treated at a local clinic.
Meanwhile in the nearby village of Bil’in, Today’s demonstration against was comprised of about 100 local residents, Israeli activists and internationals. As the group moved peaceful y towards the site of the wall, they chanted demands to free Palestinian political prisoners, including Abdullah Abu Rahma and Adib Abu Rahman, who were arrested last year for their leadership of the popular resistance in Bil’in.
Abdullah’s two young daughters marched with the crowd, carrying posters calling for the release of their father. Demonstrators carrying the Palestinian flag passed through the gate to confront the awaiting soldiers with the question, ‘What are you doing here?’
Among the internationals was a group from University of Oslo in Norway, as well as supporters from Germany, Japan and the United States. As soon as protesters reached the gate of the wall separating local farmers from their land, troops fired tear gas and sound bombs at them.
The hot gas canister ignited fires in the dry olive orchards, which residents hurried to extinguish to protect the trees from damage. For a while it was possible to avoid the gas, but eventually it became too much and demonstrators had to retreat to the village.
For IMEMC.org this is Ane Irazabeal
Political
Coordination committees of the League of Arab states consider submitting a proposal to the United Nations for approval. The latest move is meant to reject Israeli refusal to stop settlement construction IMEMC’s Rami Al-Meghari has the stores
Arab states are set to ask for recognition by the UN of a Palestinian state amidst stalemate of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Palestinian Authority’s top negotiator Saeb Eriqat reiterated this week the PA rejection to resume peace talks unless Israel halts what he termed ‘ illegal’ settlements building on the occupied West Bank.
In the meantime, a former PA negotiator and minister, Yaser Abed Rabo, believed this week that the Israeli demand from the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, before Israel concedes over the settlement issue, as workable once boundaries of the future Palestinian state are pre-determined.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, commented on the recognition of Israeli Jewish state as saying this is an international issue that the Palestinians have nothing to do with.
In the Gaza Strip, sources within the ruling Hamas party has objected vehemently to Abed Rabo’s remarks, casting doubt over what the party termed ‘ patriosim of Abed Rabo and his alike’.
Last week, in their Lybia-based summit meeting, Arab leaders gave Washington a period of one month to convince Israel of stopping the settlement construction before Arab states take a clear-cut position towards deadlocked Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
Arab countries have long ago offered Israel a comprehensive peace deal
based on land for security formula, drafted during a multilateral peace conference in Madrid in 1991. According to the Arab proposal, Israel should return back all Arab lands it occupied in 1967, including the Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem, parts of Syria and Lebanon, in return for normal peaceful relations between Israel and 23 Arab states.
Since the launching of Madrid conference, through the subsequent Oslo
peace accords of 1993 and the Camp David 2 Peace Talks in Washington
in 2 000, Israel has not given the needed concessions for peace to prevail in the Middle East.
Rami Almeghari. IMEMC.org, Gaza
West Bank and Gaza
West Bank
Israeli forces conducted at least 27 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they upducted 33 Palestinian civilians, including 9 children and an old man.
On Monday a Palestinian child was wounded in Silwan village, south of the old town of Jerusalem, when Israeli forces fired at children who demonstrated in protest to the detention of 4 children.
Also on Monday, an Israeli police vehicle stopped a Palestinian civilian vehicle carrying eleven Palestinian workers in al-Carmel area to the east of Yatta village, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Police officers forced the driver out of the car and stoned him then forced him to lie on the ground. They also forced the other passengers to lie on the ground and started beating and insulting them.
The passengers were then released but the police kept the driver in custody claiming that he was driving workers who do not have permits to enter Israel.
This week, Israeli settlers who had seized house belonging to Qirsh family in al-Sa’diya quarter in the old city of Jerusalem, vacated the furniture of the house and transported it to a store in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The family had previously filed a petition to Israeli court to prevent the settlers from vacating the furniture however, the settlers filed a counter petition and the court allowed them to remove the furniture.
Earlier in the week, security officers guarding the settlers assaulted Kamal Qirsh while he was checking the pipeline of the house and detained him for three hours and put him under house arrest for one week.
Settlers have continued to steal olives from Palestinian farmers’ orchards in the West Bank and the Israeli military made more restrictions on the access of farmers to their orchards during the olive harvest season.
Israeli forces closed gates of the wall adjacent to the villages of Mas’ha village near Salfit and Jayous village near Qalqilia and prevented the farmers from reaching their land to harvest the olives.
In the meantime, settlers from “Havat Gilad” settlement near Qalqilia robbed the olive crops the belong to Palestinian farmers from the surrounding villages. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported a testimony of one of the farmers who told them that settlers stole all his crops from 170 olive trees.
The Gaza Strip:
Two Palestinian children were wounded as they were collecting ballast from evacuated settlements near Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia towns in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The boys who were wounded in two separate incidents were doing their daily job in order to secure food for their families.
It has become common that people collect ballast from destroyed areas for little money.
In related news, Zaher Beerawy, spokesperson of the Viva Palestina 5 solidarity convoy stated that the flotilla will likely leave the Syrian port of al-Lathiqiyya on Sunday instead of Friday, the originally planned sailing date. Egyptian sources stated that Cairo will likely allow the convoy through but without British MP George Galloway.
The flotilla would be heading to the Egyptian port of al-Arish, and will coordinate its arrival with two other boats carrying humanitarian activists and supplies.
It is expected that the Egyptian Authorities deny the head of the convoy former MP George Galloway entry to its territories. It is believed that statements made by Galloway relating.
But, Beerawy stated that, so far, Egypt did not present any new and official list of persons who will not be allowed into the country.
And that was just some of the news from this week in Palestine, for more updates; please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem, this report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and George Rishmawi
