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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for June 21th to the 27th, 2014.
Five Palestinians were killed due to the Israeli ongoing military operation in the west Bank and Gaza, meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister continues to criticize the Palestinian unity deal. 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. On Friday four civilians were injured and many other civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli troops attack anti wall and settlement protests organized at a number of west Bank villages. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali has more:
On Friday protests were organized at Kufer Qaddum village in northern west Bank, and in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin and Al Nabi Saleh in central West Bank. Anti-wall and settlements protests were also organized in southern West Bank village of Al Ma’ssara near Bethlehem.
Four civilians were shoot and injured by Israeli troops when they attacked protesters in the village of Kufer Qaddum. Later troops invaded the village, fired tear gas into residents’ homes. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
In Al Nabi saleh, Israeli soldiers attacked anti wall and settlements protesters before even leaving the village. A number of protesters were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when soldiers invaded the village and fired tear gas at residents’ homes.
Elsewhere residents and their supporters in the nearby Bil’in, and Ni’lin villages reached the Israeli wall built on lands taken from local famers before soldiers stationed their showered them with tear gas and chemical water that generate bad smell. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Meanwhile, at al Ma’ssara village on Friday, Israeli troops stopped the villagers and their supporters at the village entrance then forced them back using rifle-buts and batons. No injuries were reported.
For IMEMC News this is Majd Batjali.
The Political Report
Palestinians say ongoing Israeli military offensive in the West Bank is aimed at sabotaging recent Palestinian unity deal. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister continues to criticize the same deal. IMEMC’ Rami Al Meghari with the details:
During a meeting with diplomats in Berlin, top Palestinian negotiator with Israel, Saeb Eriqat, believed that ongoing Israeli military offensive against the West Bank, aims at sabotaging the a recent unity deal between the West Bank-based Palestinian government and the Gaza-based Hamas government.
The deal was reached in April, despite Israeli refusal since the very beginning of the split between the Islamist Hamas party and Fatah party of Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli army troops have so far rounded more than 350 Palestinian from different West Bank areas, two thirds of them belong to the Islamist Hamas. Israel accuses the Hamas party of kidnapping three missing Israeli teenager boys, who went missing in the Hebron city, three weeks ago.
Eriqat added that Israel by so doing, hinders holding general elections in period of six months from now. Currently, an in-term technocrat government is in charge of the occupied Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, praised this week latest remarks by President Mahmoud Abbas , as ‘ very important’. Netanyahu was referring to Abbas’s condemnation of the missing of Israeli settlers and emphasis on the need for security cooperation with Israel.
However, Netanyahu, further demanded Abbas to back down the unity deal with Hamas, which Israel calls ‘ terrorist’.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas’s spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, said in a statement this week that the technocrat government is acting similarly to the former Ramallah-based government. Abu Zuhri was responding to the new government’s inability to resolve salary crisis of Hamas-paid employees.
Hamas demanded that those employees on it’s payroll, be paid by the technocrat cabinet that replaced both Hamas’s and Ramallah’s government. The new cabinet insists that this issue needs months, before it is resolved.
For IMEMC News , I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza
The West Bank and Gaza Report
Five civilians were killed due to the ongoing Israeli army operation which entered its second week targeting Palestinian communities in Gaza and the West Bank. IMEMC’s Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura reports:
With the five civilians killed this week by Israeli troops, the death toll have reached eight since the military operation started on June 13. The army latest escalation started when three Israeli settlers living in an illegal settlement in southern West Bank went missing.
Israeli troops continued to attacked West Bank communities, mostly in Hebron, and kidnapped around 600 hundred people.
On Sunday, Mahmoud Atallah, 31, was killed after being shot by soldiers who invaded a Palestinian building in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and used its rooftop as a military tower. Atallah was working on the roof top of a building across the street from the one occupied by troops.
Later on Sunday, Ahmad Shanno, 35, was shoot and killed by Israeli troops who invaded the northern West Bank city of Nablus and clashed with local youth there.
Amneh Mohamed, 62, from the northern West Bank village of Beit Dajan near Nablus city, died on Wednesday afternoon when Israeli soldiers held the ambulance car she was in at a checkpoint near Nablus city for half an hour. She was suffering from pain in her chest. While waiting to pass Amneh died at the checkpoint.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, 18 year old Younis Al Rejoup, died at an Israeli hospital after succumbing to wound he sustained last week. Al Rejoup was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during clashes between invading Israeli forces and local youth at the village of Dora near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
On Thursday Fatima Ismael Roshdi, 70 years of age, suffered a heart attack after dozens of soldiers stormed her home, in the al-‘Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, and ransacked it, causing excessive property damage.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli ground and air bombardment continued. A Palestinian child has been killed, when a homemade shell, fired by Palestinian fighters, accidentally struck her family’s home.
Medical sources announced that Joud ad-Danf, 3 years of age, was seriously injured, and died of her wounds later on. She was one of five family members injured in the incident.
Moreover, at least six civilians were reported injured by Israeli bombardment, according to local sources.
For IMEMC News this is Eman Abedraboo Bannoura.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine. This was the Weekly report for June 21st to the 27th, 2014 from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This week’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi, and me Ghassan Bannoura.
