Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for August 05, to the 11, 2017.
While efforts are under way this week to revive the peace process, Israeli attacks left 18 Palestinians 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. Israeli troops attacked anti wall and settlement protests on Friday organized at a number of west Bank villages, as a result many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
protests this week were organized in the central West Bank villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin and Al Nabi Saleh in addition to In Kufer Qadum village in northern 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.
In Kufer Qadum troops also attacked the villagers and their international supporters at the village entrance. Later troops stormed the village and fired tear gas at protesters.
The Political Report
This week, Palestinian leadership says contacts with concerned international bodies are going on to revive the stalled peace process. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari has more:
Top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Eriqat, said this week that the Quartet Committee for Middle East and some other international parties are being in contact with the Palestinian authority over chances for resumption of peace talks between Palestinians and Israel.
Eriqat maintained that Palestinians still insist that peace talks should be resumed on basis of a two-state solution.
In the meantime, the Palestinian official asserted that unity between Hamas and Fatah parties can be restored, once the Islamist Hamas party dissolves an administrative committee of it’s on that was meant to run Gaza, in the absence of a consensus government.
On the internal Palestinian level, the Hamas party in Gaza, declared that the administrative committee can be dissolved, in case the consensus government in the West Bank city of Ramallah, comes over to the Gaza Strip to take responsibility for all affairs, on top of which the file of Hamas-appointed thousands of government employees in Gaza.
For IMEMC News I am Rami Al Meghari in Gaza.
The West Bank and Gaza report
At least 18 Palestinian civilians were injured, including four children, this week during Israeli attacks targeting West Bank and Gaza. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura reports:
Undercover Israeli soldiers infiltrated, on Thursday evening, into Beit Rima town, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and shot seven young men with live fire, after the soldiers attempted to abduct a Palestinian.
Also on Thursday, Palestinian medical sources have reported that four children were injured, after being rammed by a speeding Israeli colonist’s car, in the al-‘Ein Street, in Silwan town, in occupied East Jerusalem.
The sources said the four children suffered various cuts and bruises. Eyewitnesses said the colonist deliberately rammed the children with his car as they were walking along the sidewalk, and sped away.
During the week, Israeli forces conducted at least 64 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and Jerusalem. During these invasions, Israeli troops detained at least 106 Palestinian civilians, including 21 children.
In Gaza, The Israeli Air Force fired missiles, on Wednesday at dawn, into several areas, west of Gaza city and Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the besieged and improvised Gaza Strip, wounding at least seven Palestinians, including one who suffered a serious injury.
Medical sources said the soldiers injured seven Palestinians, including one who suffered life-threatening wounds, after the army fired missiles into two areas northwest of the Gaza Strip.
The attack also led to excessive damage to several homes and structures near the targeting sites. The sources added that all wounded Palestinians were moved to the Shifa Medical Center, west of Gaza city, and that one of the injured remains in a critical condition.
In addition, the air force also fired missiles into a site, north of Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, causing excessive damage to the building, and several surrounding homes.
In a statement, the Israeli army said that the attacks came in response to a homemade shell which was fired from Gaza into the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, during late night hours, but landed in an open area, causing no damage or injuries.
Earlier in the week, Israeli gunboats opened fire at the Palestinian fishermen, northwest of Beit Lahia village, north of the Gaza Strip, and chased them. Such attacks were reported on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday of this week.
For IMEMC News this Ghassan Bannoura.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine. This was the Weekly report for August 05, to the 11, 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.
