Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for May 21, to the 27, 2016.
While international attempts to revive peace talks are met by Israeli refusal, Israel’s army attacks targeting Palestinians leave a teenager killed another injured this week. 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. This week protests were organized in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin and al Nabi Saleh in central West Bank, and in the northern West Bank village of Kufer Kadum.
A thirteen –year-old child was injured after being shot by Israeli soldiers as they attacked the villagers of Kufer Kadum. Troops fired live rounds, mushroom bullets and tear gas at protesters and their supporters at the village entrance. Many residents were also treated for the effects of tea gas inhalation
in central West Bank, at the 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.
At the nearby Al Nabi Saleh village troops attacked protesters as soon as they reached the village entrance. Later Israeli forces invaded the village and fired tear gas into residents homes causing damage and many residents to suffer the effects of tear gas inhalation.
The Political Report
Moves are underway, this week, to revive a long-stalled Middle East peace process. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari has more:
Peace process is on the surface, again, following years of stalemate and troubled Middle East. Council of foreign ministers for Arab States, is to meet in Cairo. The meeting scheduled next week, would discuss ways to reactivate the Arab peace initiative of 2002, land for peace formula.
This comes after France had called for an international peace conference, involving Europe, America and four Arab states, excluding the Palestinian National Authority and Israel.
Both Israel and the PA, have been halting peace talks for years, over Palestinians’ rejection of current settlements building on occupied Palestinian lands.
Earlier, Egyptian president, Abdelfattah Alsisi, had hinted at the possibility for a just peace between Arabs and Israel, based on land for peace and in accordance with UN’s Security Council resolutions, mainly 242 and 338, which demand Israel to end occupation of West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. Egypt is currently president of the UN’s Security Council.
In the meantime, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to hold meetings with Egypt’s Alsisi and Secretary General of the Arab States league, over same discussions. Palestinians hope these talks would lead to a major break through in a two state solution, envisioned by Washington, more than a decade a go.
Meanwhile, Palestinian sources confirmed that a meeting for the Quartet committee for Middle East peace, would be held , soon, to tackle ongoing Israeli settlements building and latest peace efforts and offers.
For IMEMC News , I am Rami Al Meghari, in Gaza
The West Bank and Gaza Report
This week Israeli troops killed a Palestinian teenager at a West Bank checkpoint, meanwhile navy ships escalated attacks targeting Gaza fishers. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura Reports:
Seventeen-year old, Sawsan Mansour, was killed by Israeli troops on Monday of this week. She was crossing an Israeli military checkpoint northwest of occupied Jerusalem. Mansour is from the village of Beddou near Jerusalem.
Israeli troops claimed that she had a knife. Witnesses said that soldiers shot her from a distance before searching her.
Also on Monday, 17-year-old Palestinian youth was shot and injured by Israeli troops when they attacked protesters at al-Jalazonerefugee camp, north of Ramallah in central West Bank.
In the meantime, Israeli forces conducted more than 63 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. During these invasions, Israeli troops kidnapped at least 54 Palestinian civilians, including 16 children.
In the Gaza Strip this week, Israeli army and navy escalated their attacks targeting farmers and fishers.
Israeli navy ships opened fire, on Friday morning, on several Palestinian fishing boats within six nautical miles from the Gaza shore, forcing them to return without fishing.
Earlier in the week Israeli navy ships opened fire, Wednesday, targeting fishers in Palestinian waters, northwest of Gaza city, while the soldiers opened fire on shepherds and farmers, in different parts of the coastal region. Many Palestinian boats were hit by navy fire, causing damage, and pushing the fishers to sail back to shore, fearing additional escalation.
In addition, soldiers stationed across the border fence, fired many live rounds on farmers and shepherds, in Palestinian lands, along the border fence, east of the Gaza Strip. The soldiers also opened fire on farmers east of Abasan al-Kabeera town, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the coastal region.
A similar attack took place east of the al-Qarara town, northeast of Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah and east of the al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, targeting farmers and shepherds. The attacks did not lead to casualties, but forced the Palestinians to leave the attacked areas, in fear of additional military escalation.
This week Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights published a study that showed that the Israeli navy has carried out at least 17 attacks against Gaza fishers, since the beginning of this year, and kidnapped 65 fishers.
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 May 21, to the 27, 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.
