Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for July 15, to the 21, 2017.
This week five Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire, in the meantime many countries condemned Israeli for the excessive use of force against Palestinian protesters. 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 were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation, when Israeli troops attacked anti wall and settlement protests on Friday organized at a number of west Bank villages.
In Kufer Qadum village in northern West Bank, Israeli troops attacked the villagers and their international supporters at the village entrance. Later troops stormed the village and fired tear gas at protesters; many civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
In central West Bank, Israeli soldiers attacked protesters in Al Nabi Saleh before even leaving the village. At the nearby villages of Bil’in, and Ni’lin, residents and their supporters reached the Israeli wall. Soldiers stationed their showered them with tear gas and chemical water that generate bad smell. As a result, many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
The Political Report
As tension mounts in the region, a number of international countries condemn Israeli lethal force, against Palestinians in Jerusalem. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari has more:
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced this week cut off all ties with Israel, in the wake of Israeli killing three Palestinian youth in the occupied East Jerusalem. The President’s position comes as tension in mounting in the region.
Earlier this Friday, thousands of Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem, protested at Israeli security measures including installment of metal detection doors on the gates of the Alaqsa mosque, in East Jerusalem.
From its part, Egyptian foreign ministry denounced the killings and urged Israel to stop all such measures and refrain from using lethal force against Palestinians.
The League of Arab states echoed the same stance and called on key international players, including the USA to practice some pressure on Israel to contain underway tension, across the occupied Palestinian territories.
For IMEMC News, I am Rami Al Meghari in Gaza.
The West Bank and Gaza report
Five Palestinians were killed this week, scores others injured by Israeli army gunfire during separate attacks. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura reports:
Three Palestinians were killed on Friday by Israeli army and settlers’ gunfire in separate attacks in Jerusalem. Israeli soldiers killed Mohammad Lafi, 18, after shooting him with a live round to the heart, during clashes in Abu Dis town, east of occupied East Jerusalem.
In the meantime, Also on Friday, the soldiers killed Mohammad Abu Ghannam, 20, during clashes that took place after the army invaded at-Tour neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem. Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers surrounded the Palestinian after shooting him, and that he bled to death after the army prevented Palestinian medics from approaching him.
Furthermore, an armed Israeli colonist settler shot and killed a Mohammad Sharaf, 18, in Ras al-‘Amoud neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem, while Israeli soldiers shot and injured many Palestinians, during ensuing clashes.
Om Friday night, three Israelis were allegedly stabbed to death, and another wounded, by a Palestinian assailant in the Halamish settlement in the West Bank. The assailant, Omar al-Abed, 20, from the village of Kobar, near Ramallah in the central West Bank, was shot and injured before the Israeli soldiers transferred to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Titivate.
On Thursday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Thursday, Mohmmad Tannouh, 26, after he reportedly attempted to stab them, in Teqoua’ town, east of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.
Tannouh was shot with four live rounds, before an army jeep ran over him, near al-Khansa’ school, in Teqoua’. After shooting the Palestinian, the soldiers closed the area, prevented bystanders, and even medics, from approaching him, and later covered his body with a black sheet, before taking it away.
Earlier in the week, Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Tuesday afternoon, Ra’fat Harbawi, 29, allegedly for trying to ram Israeli soldiers with his car at Beit ‘Anoun junction, east of Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank. Israeli sources said two soldiers were mildly wounded.
During the week, the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) reported that its medics have treated more than 200 injured Palestinians during clashes between local youth and Israeli soldiers. The PRC said that the injures ranged from moderate due to live gunfire to light due to rubber coated steel bullets in adtion to treating protesters for tear gas inhalation.
Clashes erupted mostly in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron areas as soldiers attacked Palestinians protesting the Israeli closer of Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city.
In addition, this week, Israeli forces conducted at least 50 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Jerusalem. During these invasions, troops detained 33 Palestinian civilians, including three children.
In Gaza, Israeli navy ships opened fire, on Monday at dawn, at Palestinian fishing boats, close to the shore in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the besieged Gaza Strip, wounding two. Eyewitnesses said the navy fired dozens of live rounds at many fishing boats in the area, wounding the two fishermen in their legs, and causing damage to at least one boat.
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 July 15, to the 21, 2017. 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.
