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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for September 8, to 14th 2012
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in protest against the increasing cost of living and taxes, meanwhile, Israel is planning to legalize unauthorized outposts in the West Bank, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
The Nonviolent Report
Let’s us begin our weekly report with nonviolent activities organized in West Bank communities. Four arrested, one injured and many treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked anti wall and settlements protesters on Friday. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura with the Story
On Friday protests were organized at the central West Bank villages of Bil’in, Nil’in and Nabi Saleh, as well as Kufer Qadom in northern West Bank and the village of AL Ma’ssara , southern West Bank.
This week protests were marching under the title of the “ death of Oslo peace accords”. Israeli troops used chemical water, tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sounds bombs to counter the nonviolent protesters.
At the villages of Bil’in and Nil’in protesters and their international and Israeli supporters reached the Israeli wall before soldiers attacked them with tear gas and sound bombs. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Meanwhile at the village of Al Nabi Saleh one man was injured by a rubber-coated steel bullet when soldiers attacked protesters. Troops attacked the protest before it even left Al Nabi Saleh, witnesses reported.
In northern West Bank, at the village of Kufer Qadom Israeli troops attacked the protest at the village entrance and arrested four men among them an Israeli solidarity activist.
Elsewhere on Friday, Israeli soldiers stationed at the village entrance of Al Ma’sara, southern west Bank, forced people back into the village using rifle-buts and batons. No injuries were reported.
For IMEMC News this is Ghassan Bannoura.
The West Bank & Gaza Report
This week Israeli attacks targeting the Gaza strip left seven injured. While Israeli forces conducted 53 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and arrested 25 Palestinians, including a child. IMEMC’s Salam Qumsiyeh has more.
On Sunday Israeli warplanes launched 4 air strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip. As a result, two rooms and a container were destroyed, 26 houses were damaged and 7 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children and two women, were slightly injured.
The Israeli attacks came shortly after sires of airstrikes and shelling left seven Palestinians dead last week.
Meanwhile at sea Israeli naval forces continued to fire at Palestinian fishing boats in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday and Monday of this week Israeli gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported.
In the West Bank, also on Sunday a Palestinian civilian was wounded and arrested by Israeli soldiers in the center of Hebron city southern West Bank. the Israeli military claimed that he threw a Molotov cocktail bomb at troops.
On the same day, a Palestinian civilian was wounded and arrested by Israeli soldiers at al Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, during clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian boys.
Later in the week the Israeli military and its so-called, Civil Administration Office in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday , decided to confiscate 675 thousand squared meters of privately-owned Palestinian lands in the Nablus district, in the northern part of the West Bank.
Palestinian sources said the Israeli military handed over confiscation orders to the residents of Burin and Awarta villages, southeast Nablus early Wednesday.
Most of the land in question is olive orchards. Such confiscation orders come shortly after the Israeli government approved the upgrade of an Israeli college in the illegal settlement of Ariel into a university, a decision that created uproar among Palestinian, International and Israeli academics.
For IMEMC News this is Salam Qumsiyeh
The Political Report
This week in Palestine, protests against inflating living costs continue as some politicians call for reconsidering or even nullifying a 19-year-old Oslo peace agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the details with IMEMC’s Rami Almeghari
Against the backdrop of continues mass protests across the West Bank, some Palestinian leaders and politicians called for reconsidering the Oslo agreement of 1993, which laid the foundation for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
According to the agreement, Palestinians should have long had a self-determination and a Palestinian state should have been established following a five-year interim agreement , starting 1994 to 1999, yet the situation has worsened and peace has been stalled between the two parties.
Chief Palestinian negotiator and one of the artichets for Oslo, Ahmad Qurai, told Israeli journalists this week that if the two-state solution, envisioned by the United States, has proved unworkable, then there is a need to consider a one-democratic-state solution, similar to the South African example. Qurai was speaking on the 19 anniversary of Oslo accords, signed in the White House in Washington in September13, 1993.
In the Gaza Strip, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist major PLO—linked group, said in a statement that the Oslo Accords are almost dead and the there is a need for a comprehensive Palestinian national movement that would reschedule Palestinian priorities.
Across the occupied West Bank, calls for more demonstrations against inflated high prices and worse Palestinian economy continues unabated. Some of the organizers for such mass protests called for unilaterally nullifying the Paris accord, the economic part of the Oslo agreement of 1993.
Since signed, the Oslo accords have not achieved their goals, mainly the establishment of a Palestinian state along side Israel and ending Israel’s stronghold of the occupied Palestinian territories including Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem. In West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel has immensely increased settlements buildings, while in Gaza, it continues to impose a crippling blockade.
Meanwhile, league of the Arab states in Cairo, demanded Arabs to live up with a series of financial pledges to help improve economic situation of the Palestinian Authority.
In 2008’s Arab states summit, Arab countries pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, yet only dozens have been transferred, according to PA’s president Mahmoud Abbas in a recent televised speech on current financial crisis.
For IMEMC.org, I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine this was the Weekly report for September 8 to 14th 2012 from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and me, George Rishmawi
