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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for August 30th to September 5th, 2014.
Palestinian diplomats seek UN resolution to end Israel’s occupation to Palestinian land in three years, meanwhile this week four civilians from Gaza died this week after being injured during the Israeli war on Gaza last month. 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. At least four civilians were injured and many others were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli troops attack anti wall and settlement protests organized at a number of West Bank communities on Friday. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali has more:
In central West Bank protests were organized at the village of Bil’in, Ni’lin and Al Nabi saleh. Also protests were organized in southern West Bank villages of Al Ma’ssara and Wadi Foukien near Bethlehem.
At the villages of Bil’in, and Ni’lin residents and their supporters reached the Israeli wall built on lands taken from local famers before soldiers stationed their showered them with tear gas and chemical water that generate bad smell. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation at both villages.
In the nearby village of Al Nabi Saleh, Israeli soldiers attacked protesters before even leaving the village. Later soldiers also invaded the village and fired tear gas at residents’ homes. As a result four civilians were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets while many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Elsewhere, many civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli soldiers attacked villagers of Wadi Foukien and their supporters. Protesters tried to plant olive trees at land Israel want to take over to construct new illegal settlements.
At al Ma’ssara village on Friday, Israeli troops stopped the villagers and their supporters at village entrance then forced them back using rifle-buts and batons, no injuries were reported.
For IMEMC News this is Majd Batjali.
The Political Report
Shortly after the Palestinian diplomats submitted a proposal to the United Nations for ending the Israeli military occupation in Palestine, the US threatened to block such proposal in the UN if voted on, IMEMC’s George Rishmawi Reports:
Senior Palestinian Liberation Organization’s negotiator Saeb Erekat submitted a proposal for ending the ongoing Israeli occupation and establishing Palestinian State. The proposal was said to include a timetable for withdrawal of Israeli military forces.
The PLO now intends to seek a UN Security Council resolution which would set a three-year deadline for the end of the occupation.
In the meantime, US permanent representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, has implied that Washington will block any resolution in the Security Council to pass Palestinian initiatives which aim to end the Israeli occupation in the West Bank within three years.
Power said such issues should be solved through negotiations and described the Palestinian move as a unilateral step.
Palestinian observors said the US continues to implement double standard with issues related to Palestine-Israel.
This week, Palestinian negotiators met with US Secretary of State John Kerry for over two hours described by US officials as ‘constructive talks” concerning future relations with Israel.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: ‘It was a constructive conversation that covered a range of issues, including Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and recent developments in the region.’ She further stated that the conveners have agreed to talk again, in coming weeks.
Such talks come as Israel has declared it would expropriate nearly 1000 acres of Palestinian land to build new settlements and expand some existing ones in the West Bank.
The US has urged Israel to reverse this decision as it would backfire against Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the announcement would cause the situation in the region to deteriorate further, and added that settlements in general are illegal.
In related news, head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Mashal says that the Gaza Strip will not return to the siege or be internationally isolated again.
Mashal said, in an interview with the Al-Araby al-Jadeed website: “The 1.8 million Gazans should live as all human beings, enjoying their national rights to travel by land, sea, or air. Gaza is part of the Palestinian homeland and is the coastal city of the West Bank”. Mashal added “A number of demands were already established in the Cairo cease-fire agreement and others postponed to be negotiated within a month, he said “we will continue our struggle until our people get what they want.”
For IMEMC News, this is George Rishmawi
The West Bank and Gaza Report
Four Palestinians from Gaza died this week due to wounds they sustained during the Israeli war on Gaza last month. Meanwhile in the West Bank Israeli attacks leave six civilians injured. IMEMC’s Eman Abedraboo Bannoura with the details:
On Monday, Palestinian medical sources reported that a man and a child have died of serious injuries suffered, in different strikes, during Israel’s extensive bombardment and aggression on the Gaza Strip last month.
Moreover a Palestinian aged woman died on Wednesday at an Egyptian hospital after succumbing to wounds she sustained during the Israeli war on Gaza. She was injured on July.
Another elderly Palestinian woman died on Thursday at the Nasser Medical Center, in Cairo, of serious injuries suffered on August 29, during the Israeli war on the coastal region.
Last week, Egyptian mediated truce ended a 51 days long Israeli war on Gaza that started on July 8. Israeli bombardment have left more than 2149 killed and at least 11300 injured.
Also this week, Israeli navy continued to attack Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip. On Monday Israeli warships fired at Palestinian boats while they were sailing within the agreed-upon six-nautical-mile limit, near Rafah. On Wednesday morning, Israeli navy opened fire at a number of Palestinian fishing boats close to the shore of Gaza City, and kidnapped two of them.
In the West Bank this week, two Palestinian civilians were injured on Monday evening during clashes between local youth and invading Israeli soldiers at the village of Beit Ummer in southern West Bank.
Local sources announced that two teenagers were taken to hospital after being hit by rubber-coated steel bullets fired by Israeli troops and many others were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation. Moreover at least four Palestinians were injured during clashes which erupted Monday, at dawn, in Deheishe refugee camp, to the south of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.
Later in the week, Israeli troops demolished on Wednesday two homes in Beit Hanina town in occupied east Jerusalem. Local sources said that the houses are home to 15 family members who are now homeless. Israeli soldiers also demolished on Wednesday a Palestinian owned shop at the village of Al Jep near Jerusalem.
The Israeli army claimed that the three structures are built without the needed permission from the military. Construction permits are rarely given to Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem.
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 August 30 to September 5th, 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 Samer Jaber, and me Ghassan Bannoura.
