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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for June 28th to July 4th, 2014.
Three Palestinian were killed these week due to Israeli army and settlers attacks. Meanwhile a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel may end the army escalation against the coastal enclave. 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. Israeli troops injured one international supporter and many other were treated for the effect of tear gas inhalation as they attacked anti wall protests organized at a number of West Bank communities. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali has more:
Palestinians organized protests against the settlement activities and the construction of the wall on their land in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin and al Nabi Saleh in central West Bank, as well as Al Ma’asara village in southern West Bank.
One international supporter was injured, another arrested by Israeli troops and many protestors were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when soldiers attacked the villagers and their supporters in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin and al Nabi Saleh.
Israeli troops stopped the protestors at the entrance of Nabil Saleh village before they reach the confiscated land. They forced them to the retreat as they showered them with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. In Bil’in and Ni’lin, people managed to reach the Israeli wall.
In the village of Al Ma’ssara near Bethlehem, residents were forced back by Israeli troops stationed at the village entrance. No injuries were reported.
For IMEMC News this is Majd Batjali.
The Political Report
Hamas leaders in Gaza hinted at the possibility of a ceasefire deal with Israel. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah urged world leaders to intervene for preventing further Israeli attacks on both Gaza and the West Bank. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari with the details:
Hamas MP in Gaza, Mosheer Almasry, said this Friday that his Islamist party would likely reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel, after Egyptian intervention. The situation on the ground has been steadily getting tense after Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes against Gaza, in what Israel says halt of rocket fire from Gaza, onto nearby Israel.
This week, Palestinian armed factions in the coastal territory fired scores of rocket fire onto nearby Israeli areas, in what the armed factions, including that of Hamas, a response to continued Israeli military actions against the Palestinians in the West Bank.
Also, this week, world leaders including Ban Ki-Moon of the United Nations , David Kameron of Britain, Jhon Kerry, US’s Secretary of States and Angela Merkel of Jermany, all condemned the kidnap, brutal murder and burn-out of a Palestinian teen boy in Jerusalem, by illegal Israeli settlers.
Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, called on international bodies to intervene in order to prevent further Israeli actions against the West Bank, after three missing youth settlers, were found killed near the Hebron city.
Israel has so far rounded up hundreds of Palestinians, two thirds of them belong to the Islamist Hamas party, which Israel accuses of kidnapping and murdering the three settler youth last month. Israel says it’s actions will continue in Hebron, until perpetrators of the attack on settlers , are detained.
Right groups condemned the actions as ‘collective punishment’. Hamas insists it has nothing to do with the killed three settlers.
At the internal Palestinian level, the former Hamas government in Gaza said this week that the recently-formed technocrat government that replaced both Gaza’s and West Bank’s governments, in light of the Hamas-Fatah unity deal, has not yet lived up with it’s commitments to the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’s deputy-political leader in Gaza, Mousa Abu Marzouq, was quoted as saying that such a situation would likely prompt Hamas to take care of the people in Gaza, away from any unity deals.
For IMEMC News, I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza
The West Bank and Gaza Report
Two Palestinians were killed this week by Israeli settlers and army attacks targeting West Bank communities. Meanwhile one man was reported dead and at least 14 civilians were injured in Gaza by Israeli continued bombardment. IMEMC’s Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura reports:
Hundreds marched on Friday in the funeral of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir at Shu’fat in occupied east Jerusalem. Later clashes erupted between local youth and Israeli soldiers, leading to at least 16 injured youth by Israeli troops’ gunfire and tear gas.
Abu Khdeir was kidnapped and killed then his body was burned by Israeli settlers on Wednesday. Shortly after his body was found clashes erupted all over occupied Jerusalem between protesting Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers. As a result 300 Palestinian youth were left injured. The clashes continued all week.
Meanwhile a Palestinian man was shoot and killed on Tuesday by Israeli soldiers during an army invasion targeting the northern west Bank city of Jenin. Israeli soldiers assassinated Ibrahim Abu Zagha, 21, after they infiltrated into the Jenin refugee camp. The young man was returning home, carrying food for his family to eat before starting their fast, as the Muslims are marking the holy month of Ramadan. Abu Zagha was instantly killed after being struck by several rounds of live ammunition, fired by the undercover forces.
All week, Israeli settlers groups tried to kidnap Palestinian civilians and kill them. Incidents were reported in Jerusalem and in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The settlers are holding Palestinians for the three killed youth and calling for revenge killings during protests they staged in Jerusalem or on online social media outtlits.
Moreover, Israeli daily invasions continued to target West Bank communities this week. Israeli troops have kidnapped at least 100 people during those attacks. Palestinian medical sources also reported that at least 30 people were injured during the clashes between local youth and invading Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
Elsewhere, Israeli aerial and ground bombardment continued to hit the Gaza strip. One Palestinian was killed and two were injured on Sunday evening, after being struck by an Israeli missile east of the town of al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Local sources said that an Israeli drone fired a missile targeting a Hamas fighter, while driving his motorcycle, killing him and wounding two bystanders.
At least ten Palestinians have been injured, on Thursday at dawn, in a series of Israeli air strikes targeting different parts of the besieged Gaza Strip. Medical sources said that seven Palestinians, including three girls and an elderly woman, have been injured when the army fired missiles into Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
They were all moved to the Kamal Adwan Hospital. Three more Palestinians were wounded when the army fired missiles into the al-Maqousi residential towers areas, northwest of Gaza city, and were moved to the Shifa Medical Center.
Four more civilians were injured when the Israeli Air Force carried out, on Tuesday before dawn, more than 34 air strikes targeting different areas of the coastal region. The attacks caused excessive property damage.
For IMEMC News this is Eman Abedraboo-Bannora.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine. This was the Weekly report for June 28th to July 4th, 2014 from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This week’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi, and me Ghassan Bannoura.
