Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for September 23, to the 29, 2017.
As Palestinian political groups announce reconciliation this week one Palestinian and three Israeli soldiers are killed during an attack in the West Bank while in Gaza Israeli navy escalate attacks targeting fishermen. 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 Israeli troops used tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to attack protesters marching against the wall and settlements. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali with the details:
This week protests were organized in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin in central West Bank, and in the northern West Bank village of Kufer Kadum.
Many residents and their supporters were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation fired by Israeli soldiers as they attacked the villagers of Kufer Kadum.
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.
For IMEMC News this is Majd Batjali
The Political Report
This week, Palestinians are still awaiting the end of a 10-year-long Israeli blockade on Gaza and settlement for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, by means of intra-Palestinian reconciliation between major Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fatah. Such a reconciliation is expected to take effect by next Monday, when the West Bank-based consensus government will be arriving in Gaza. IMEMC’s rami Al Meghari has more:
Hamas party says that it would welcome a consensus government in Gaza by next Monday, with a willingness to end all Palestinian differences, caused by the 10-year-old political split. In the Gaza Strip, 2 million residents have some hopes for a better future.
Some political commentators believe that Hamas has demonstrated this time a great deal of flexibility and that the party realizes that there is an upcoming peaceful settlement between Palestinians and Israelis.
During a public speech this week, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yehya Alsenwar, hinted at two main points; a possible prisoner swap deal with Israel, with the help of Egyptian mediators, and integration of Hamas’s militant offshoot, Ezzildin Alqassam, into a potential PA-run military battalions, based on a peaceful settlement in the region.
Alsenwar asserted on his party’s strong determination to end the Palestinian political split with Fatah party of Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
In the meantime, preparations are underway in Gaza to welcome hundreds of Palestinian government officials to arrive in the territory, from the West Bank.
Such developments come in the backdrop of this month’s speech by Palestinian president , Mahmoud Abbas, before UN member states in New York. Abbas outlined important stops in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and extended hand of peace towards Israel, based on international legitimacy resolutions. Abbas also called on Washington to practice an effective role of mediation between Israelis and Palestinians.
For IMEMC News , I am Rami Al Meghari in Gaza.
The West Bank and Gaza report
A Palestinian man and three Israeli soldiers were killed this week during an attack in the West Bank as navy ships continue to attack fishermen in Gaza. IMEMC’s Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura reports:
A Palestinian armed man shot and killed on Tuesday morning three Israeli security guards In the Israeli settlement colony of Har Adar near Jerusalem that is built illegally on Palestinian land.
The attacker was then shot and killed by the remaining Israeli border guards at the entrance to the settlement colony. The Palestinian was later identified as Nimir Jamal, 37, a father of four children, from Beit Surik village, northwest of Jerusalem. Israeli news sources reported that the three Israelis are members of the “Israeli Security Forces, a border Policeman and two civilian security guards.”
After the attack The Israeli army imposed a complete isolation of sixteen Palestinian villages, northwest of occupied Jerusalem, in addition to closing various roads and continuing the state of curfew, imprisoning the villages in their homes, and causing the closure of fifty schools.
Later in the week, Israeli soldiers destroyed, on Wednesday evening, a water pipeline and bulldozed an agricultural road in ‘Atouf village, south of Tubas, in addition to confiscating a tractor and a water truck in the West Bank’s Northern Plains.
Israel controls all water resources, and frequently disconnects water supplies, an issue that forces the Palestinians to buy water, which is delivered to them by water trucks, for higher prices than they would normally pay if they had constant running water.
During the week, Israeli forces conducted at least 85 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Jerusalem. During these invasions, Israeli forces detained at least 75 Palestinian civilians, including 12 children.
In Gaza this week, Israeli gunboats opened fire opn Monday and Tuesday of this week at the Palestinian fishing boats, northwest of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip and chased them.
Moreover, the navy also attacked fishermen near al Soudaniya area also in northern Gaza Strip. The attacks were reported on Sunday and Tuesday of this week.
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 September 23, to the 29, 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 Ghassan Bannoura.
