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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for January 26 through February 1 2013
Palestinians welcome the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding Israel meanwhile Israeli invasions into Palestinian communities reach 75 this week leaving seven Palestinians dead, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
The Nonviolence Report
Let’s us begin our weekly report with nonviolent activities organized in the West Bank. Seven children were injured on Friday and one man was arrested by Israeli troops who attacked anti wall protests organized at a number of West Bank communities. IMEMC’s Salam Qumsiyeh has the details:
Protests on Friday were reported in the villages of Bil’in Ni’lin and al Nabi Saleh in central West Bank, as well as Al Ma’ssara village in southern West Bank in addition to Kufer Kadum, in the north.
Seven Palestinian children were injured at the village of Kufer Kadum. Israeli Soldiers fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at villagers and their supporters to stop their protest.
In addition to the seven children injured by tear gas, many others were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation. One man was also arrested by Israeli troops.
In central West Bank, many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when soldiers attacked the villagers and their Israeli and international supporters at the villages of Bil’in Ni’lin and al Nabi Saleh.
In Bil’in and Ni’lin the protesters managed to reach the lands where Israeli is building the wall, while in al Nabi Saleh, troops attacked protesters at the village entrance.
At the village of Al Ma’ssara, one child was injured when soldiers attacked protesters with rifle buts and batons. Villagers said that the boy was hit by soldiers on his hand. The villagers and their supporters only managed to reach the settlers road near the village before they got attacked by Israeli soldiers.
For IMEMC News this is Salam Qumsiyeh
The Political Report
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Eriqat called this week for the implementation of recommendations by the UN Human Rights Council. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources denied from London plans to kick off covert negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. At the internal level, speaker for Palestinian parliament called for reopening parliamentary sessions in both Gaza and the West Bank. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari with the details:
Top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Eriqat, says international community needs to push forward implementing some recommendations by a report of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which called for an immediate unconditional halt of all illegal Israeli settlements building in both the West Bank and the occupied East Jerusalem.
Eriqat’s comments came few months after Palestinian Authority’s status was upgraded to that of a state, but non-member at the United Nations. Last November , United Nations recognized Palestine within 1967 border lines as a non-member state. 1967 borders including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem, are the boundaries of future Palestinian state.
In the meantime, Israeli illegal settlements building continue unabated. Last month, Palestinian residents in the West Bank staged a widespread protests against such activities by setting up symbolic camps on Arab lands, Israel plans to confiscate for settlement purposes.
In another news, Palestinian sources from Londong denied media reports that a current Middle East conference held in London, aims at kicking off secret negotiations between Israel and Palestinians in order to break peace process stalemate since September 2010. The sources, close to the conference, hinted at the fact that such a conference involve representatives from Switzerland and the UK along with some other European countries, discuss Middle East affairs including reasons for the peace process stalemate.
On the internal Palestinian level, speaker for Palestinian parliament and leading Hamas figure in the West Bank, Dr. Aziz Dwaik, called for reopening parliamentary sessions in both Gaza and the West Bank ahead of possible reconciliation between his Hamas party and the Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Dwaik’s remarks came on the heels of Hamas’s agreement to the operation of the election committee in Gaza. This week, chairman of the committee, Hanna Naser, met with Hama’s prime minister in Gaza , Ismail Haniya and some other representatives of Gaza-based political factions. In Cairo, Hamas and Fatah representatives held a series of meeting to discuss ways of conciliation. In Amman, leader for Hamas ,
Khaled Mash’al, met with the Jordanian Monarch ,
Abdallah II. Media reports suggested that Mash’al expressed his party’s consent to a two-state solution. Local Hamas leaders in Gaza refuted and said , Palestine’s boundaries should include all parts of historical Palestine not only the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
For IMEMC News, I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza
The West Bank and Gaza Report
Seven Palestinian were reported killed in Gaza this week. Moreover the Israeli army conducted at least 75 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.During these invasions, Israeli soldiers kidnapped at least 33 Palestinian civilians, including 5 children. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura has more:
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported on Sunday that a Palestinian man was killed, and another was injured, in a tunnel accident in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The accident took place in a siege-busting tunnel in As-Salaam neighborhood, in Rafah; The body of the slain Palestinian, age 33, and the wounded resident, were moved to the Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah. Last week a Palestinian teenager was killed when a siege-busting tunnel, in Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, collapsed on him.
Later on the week A Palestinian family of six was killed on Thursday in Gaza City after their house caught fire on the eerily down hours. The Palestinian police in Gaza said that the family was using candles to light their house when the furniture was set on fire.
Some areas in Gaza have only 12 hours a day of electricity because Israeli does not allow enough fuel used to generate electricity into the costal enclave, therefore many family in Gaza resort to using other means to get heat and light for their homes.
In the West Bank this week extremist Israeli settlers installed a new illegal outpost near the Al-Yobik area, West of Jayyous, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia on Monday. The settlers installed their outpost on area that was previously illegally occupied by the settlers, but in 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the settlers out after Israel altered the route of the Annexation Wall in the area.
Ten days ago Israel completed the construction of the wall in the area, but a few days ago the settlers brought mobile homes on privately-owned Palestinian lands to install their outposts. According to residents the settlers initially claimed that the mobile homes belong to the contractor who is building the wall in the area.
On Tuesday Israeli forces, accompanied by Israeli Army Civil Administration, raided al-Tabban area, east of Yatta, southern West Bank. They handed 7 notices for stopping the construction work on 4 houses, which are the home to 33 members of the same family, 3 barracks used for raising cattle and storing fodders and grain.
For IMEMC News this is Ghassan Bannoura.
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine this was the Weekly report for January 26 to through February 1, 2013 from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please keep visiting our website at www.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and me, George Rishmawi
