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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for October 18th, to the 24th, 2014.
Israeli attacks this week left two children and a young man killed in Gaza and the west Bank. In the meantime Israel officials accused the Palestinian President of fueling tension. 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. On Friday many civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli soldiers attacked nonviolent protests organized in West Bank villages. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali with the details:
Protests were organized on Friday in the village of al Nabi Saleh, Bil’in, Nil’in, central West Bank, and Al Ma’ssara village in southern west Bank.
In Bil’in and Ni’lin, Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters as soon as they reached the gate of the wall that separates local farmers from their lands.
Troops stationed at the wall fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at the protesters in Bil’in and Nil’in. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation in both villages.
At the nearby village of al Nabi Saleh soldiers stop the protest before leaving the village Later soldiers stormed the village and fired tear gas into residents’ homes causing damage.
Meanwhile Israeli troops attacked the villagers of al Ma’ssara 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
Palestinian Authority this week accuses Israel of creating tension in the entire region, while Israel says latest remarks by Palestinian President fueled tension in the occupied East Jerusalem. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari has more:
Palestinian Authority warned against Israeli actions in the occupied East Jerusalem, saying that recent Israeli settlers’ takeover of some Palestinian homes around the Alaqsa mosque, would trigger more tension.
Israeli government responded that the takeover of homes was done on private basis and within regular real-estate deals between Arab and Jews residents of the holy city.
Recently, the Palestinian Authority said that Israel plans to take some actions that would aim at judizing the Arab status of the city and transform it into a Jewish one.
In another news, Palestinian and Israeli delegations will start next week a new round of talks, under Egyptian mediation in Cairo. The expected talks will discuss lifting the Israeli blockade of Gaza and ways to rebuild a devastated Gaza airport in south of the territory.
Meanwhile, despite international pledges of 5.4 billion dollars to reconstruct the war-torn Gaza Strip, no reconstruction has yet started, except entry of few hundred tons of cement, under UNRWA observation.
For IMEMC News, I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza
The West Bank and Gaza Report
This week, two children and a young man were killed this week due to Israeli attacks and unexploded bombs. In the meantime Israeli troops continued at least 54 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the west Bank this week. During these invasions Israeli soldiers kidnapped at least 40 civilians. IMEMC’s Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura reports:
At the start of the week, 5-year-old Einas Khalil, died on Sunday after being hit by a car driven by an Israeli settler near the central West Bank town of Sinjil, medical sources at Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah reported.
Both Einas and her friend Nilin Asfour were reportedly walking on the main road near the village when they were hit. They were taken to the hospital in Ramallah, where their wounds were described as serious. Einas passed away some hours later.
Residents of Sinjil have accused the settler of deliberately hitting the girls. Israeli police claim to have opened an investigation.
Later in the week, Abdul-Rahman Shalloudi, 20, was shot and killed , on Wednesday, by tram station Israeli guards in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. Shalloudi was shot by three rounds of live ammunition, one directly in his liver. He reportedly tried to hit Israeli settlers at the tram station with his car.
Staying in Jerusalem, Israeli settlers and troops continued their attacks against Palestinian at the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem old city. Clashes left dozens of Palestinians injured this week.
In Gaza this week, Mohamed Abu Jaraad, 9 years old, was killed on Wednesday evening when an unexploded bomb left by the Israeli military detonated near him in Beit Hanoun town in the northern part of the Gaza strip.
During the 50 days Israeli war on Gaza which ended in August, Israeli war planes dropped thousands of bombs all over the Gaza Strip, hundreds of it did not explode and continue to cause a risk to the civilians of the region .
Earlier on Wednesday morning, Israeli navy boats attacked a Palestinian fishing boat close to the Gaza shore in the Sudaniyya area, north of Gaza City. Eyewitnesses said the navy fired rounds of live ammunition at a boat belonging to members of Abu Bakr family, and kidnapped five of them. The kidnapped fishermen were taken to an unknown destination.
Also on Wednesday, a number of fishing boats came under Egyptian navy fire near Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
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 October 18th, to the 24th, 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.
