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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for September 29th, to October 5th 2012
Amidst ongoing Israeli military attacks against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Palestinians attempt to seek UN recognition of a non-member state with no answer, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
The Nonviolent Report
Let’s us begin our weekly report with nonviolent activities organized in the West Bank. Protests this week were organized in Kufer Kadum village, the northern West Bank and the central West Bank villages of Bil’in, Nil’in and Nabi Saleh, as well as the village of AL Ma’ssara, in the southern West Bank. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura with the story:
In Kufer Kadum village Israeli soldiers attack villagers and their international supporters as soon as they got to them main road leading in and out of the village.
Troops arrested one British solidarity activist and fired tear gas at protesters; many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation. the main road leading in and out of Kufer Kadum was closed by the Israeli military 10 years ago; villagers were demanding it to be re-opened.
At the villages of Nil’in and Bil’in, many protesters were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli soldiers station at the wall fired tear gas at them as well as rubber-coated steel bullets. Villagers and their international supporters managed to march right up to the Israeli wall after the midday prayers bef ore they were attacked by Israeli troops.
In Nil’in protesters were against the invitation of the Spanish team Barcelona to the Israeli soldiers Gilad Shalit to appear in their game in Spain next Sunday.
Gilad Shalit was taken by Palestinian resistance fighters when they attacked his post in Gaza. Shalit was released last year after an exchange deal between Palestinian groups and Israeli was reached.
At the nearby village of Al Nabi Saleh, many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation and two protesters suffered light wounds when Israeli soldiers attacked villagers and their supporters on Friday. the army attacked the unarmed protesters at the entrance of the village and did not allow them to reached lands taken from local farmers by Israel.
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 forces conducted at least 42 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During these incursions, Israeli troops arrested at least 14 Palestinians, including 3 children. Meanwhile in Gaza, Israeli troops invaded the borders areas near the central Gaza Strip and arrested three civilians. IMEMC’s Salam Qumsiyeh has more of the details:
On Monday the body of a 16-year old Palestinian youth was found near Beit Arieh, an illegal Israeli settlement built on Palestinian lands that belong to residents of Aboud village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Initial reports the cause of death is a sharp blow to the head likely caused by a hit-and-run accident. The slain youth is a Bedouin living with his family and tribe near Aboud village.
Later in the week in Gaza a Palestinian worker was killed two others injured on Tuesday midday as a siege busting tunnel collapsed at the borders with Egypt in southern Gaza Strip. Last week another worker was killed and two injured in a similar accident.
Tuesday incident brings the number of Palestinians who have been killed in tunnel accidents to 206 since Israeli started its siege on the Gaza Strip back in 2006. The siege has left Gazan hospitals out of basic and specialized supplies and equipment, an issue that has led to the death of more than 400 patients, including infants and children.
On Wednesday Israeli settlers started to build a new settlement on lands owned by Palestinian farmers from the village of Yanun in northern West Bank. Local sources said that Israeli bulldozers destroyed farm lands then settlers arrived and installed caravans and water tanks.
In related news The Israeli Civil Administration Office in the occupied West Bank decided not to grant a group of settlers a permit to purchase a Palestinian home near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The settlers now have the option of contesting the ruling at the Israeli Military Court of Appeals.
Six months ago, a group of settlers broke into the home after claiming that they bought it; several ministers of the extremist government coalition of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, showed support to the settlers, and even visited them in the occupied property. the army earlier this year evicted the settlers while PM Netanyahu promised to examine the legality of the claimed purchase within a month.
In Jerusalem this week clashed started on Sunday between local youth and Israeli soldiers and ended late on Monday evening. Clashed erupted at Rass al Amood when soldiers arrested four Palestinian men accused of shooting at settlers. Israeli media announced that four soldiers were lightly wounded in the clashes.
Staying in Jerusalem later in the week a group Israeli settlers stormed the Al Aqsa mosque under the protection of Israeli soldiers and celebrated Jewish holidays. According to local sources the settlers attacked Muslim worshipers who were in the mosque. Meanwhile another group of settlers sprayed the outer doors of a church in the Mount of Olives on Tuesday midday with hate words against local Palestinian Christian.
For IMEMC News this is Salam Qumsiyeh
The Political Report
For the second year in a row, Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, applies for the UN recognition of a Palestinian state, but this time as a non-member state. Abbas failed last year to win a UN recognition of Palestine as a full member state. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch reported on various human rights violations in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the details and more with IMEMC’s Rami Almeghari
As Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was speaking to the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, more than 120 Palestinian youth in Gaza were convening their own Model United Nations General Assembly.
The United Nations in New York heard Abbas’s demand yet no decision was yet taken towards recognition of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders. In Gaza, the MUN by university graduates recognized Palestine as a UN member state.
Rawya Shawa is an independent member of parliament in Gaza and chairwoman for Gaza Culture Development Group and co-founder of the MUN. She called on Abbass to reconsider the move at the UN.
Actuality ‘In Arabic’ Female Voiceover
‘We are wondering, we are asking our politicians outright, what kind of constant Palestinian rights in a time Israel has grabbed all Palestinian people’s lands. While the Palestinian constant rights turn to be unclear, I would like to say that these youth should be given the chance to think or create, because they have been neglected’.
In the meantime, Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, attacked this week Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas by branding him a stumbling block to peace-making between Israel and Palestinians.
In the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-led Palestinian government strongly condemned ongoing Israeli settlement activities on the occupied Palestinian territories. It also called on Egypt to break the Israeli siege on Gaza by largely opening the Rafah crossing to allow flow of goods and commodities in an out of the territory.
Recently, Hamas-organized demonstrations echoed the same demand, yet Cairo’s ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, Yaser Othman, responded by saying that he and his country hoped that Hamas would have welcomed recent Egyptian ease of measures at the Rafah crossing terminal, instead.
Khalil Alhaya , a local Hamas leader in Gaza, said in a large celebration ceremony for the Isalamic Jihad group in Gaza that the peaceful settlement has failed.
Alhaiya called for a comprehensive Palestinian national strategy that could help the Palestinian people get rid of the Israeli occupation. He emphasized on what he termed ‘ significance of the Palestinian resistance strategy.
In another news, Human Rights Watch in New York, reported this week on various human rights violations across the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Among those violations are torture inside Hamas-run prisons, crackdown on citizens on political grounds and ban of protests.
The Hamas-led government denied the accusations and described the HRW’s report as highly-politicized and one-sided.
Dr. Ibrahim Abrash is a leading political analyst in Gaza.
Actuality ‘ In Arabic ‘.
“Actually there is huge amount of human right violation in Gaza Strip dispel what is happening in West Bank, the report is about Gaza and doesn’t have to talk about West Bank, in Gaza there is a totally independent governed there for the report must focus on Gaza Strip not in the West Bank, in Gaza there is a huge violations which human right organization has documented but they weren’t mentioned in the report “.
For IMEMC News, I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza.
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine this was the Weekly report for September 29th to October 5th 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, Anne Shirley
