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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for December 20th, to the 26th 2014.
As Palestinian marked Christmas this week, Israeli attacks left one Palestinian dead and at least six other injured. In the meantime the PA are determined to go ahead with their move to demand an end to the Israeli occupation at the UN. 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. Protests this week were reported in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin and al Nabi Saleh in central West Bank, as well as Al Ma’ssara in southern West Bank and Kufer Qadum in northern West Bank. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali with the story:
Israeli troops used live rounds, tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to suppress all West Bank anti wall and settlements protests on Friday.
A Palestinian man was injured by a live round fired by Israeli troops meanwhile many others were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation at the village Kufer Qadum.
In al Nabi Saleh, Israeli troops shot and injured 14 year old Ahmad al Barghouthi in his leg when they attacked the anti-wall and settlement protest organized in the village on Friday.
Later troops stormed the village and fired tear gas into residents’ homes. Many civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
In the nearby Bil’in and Ni’lin villages, residents and their supporters were attacked by Israeli soldiers as soon as they reached the wall. Many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Elsewhere in southern West Bank, Israeli troops stopped the weekly anti wall protest at Al Ma’ssara village entrance. Soldiers forced people back into the village using rifle buts and batons, no injuries were reported.
For IMEMC News this is Majd Batjali.
The Political Report
Palestinians are determined to go ahead with their move to demand an end to the Israeli occupation, within a deadline. US has practiced pressure on some European Union to abstain voting on the Palestinian bid. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari has more:
Palestinian Authority said it would go ahead with the move to end Israeli occupation by UN’s will, within a deadline. The new move is meant to pressure Israel for accepting a solution that is based on a two-state on 1967 borders including West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
This week , United States urged some European countries to abstain voting for the Palestinian bid.
Arab States league, which support the bid, advised Palestinians to submit the bid by early January , as new countries will be members of the UN’s Security council.
Palestinian Authority said it will continue the bid despite pressure by US and Israel.
In another news, Gaza-based armed factions called on Egypt to make Israel commit to ceasefire understandings, reached in August , following Israel’s 51-day war on the coastal occupied territory.
The call came in the backdrop of recent Israeli shootouts on the Gaza border, killing a local Hamas gunman and injuring few others. Egypt had mediated the ceasefire, which demands halt of hostilities and ease of Israel-imposed siege on the territory.
For IMEMC News, I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza
The West Bank and Gaza Report
This week Palestinian teenager from Gaza dies of wounds he sustained in August, and in the west Bank Israeli armed forces escalated attacks. Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura Reports:
A Palestinian teenager was pronounced dead on Friday after succumbing to wounds he sustained by army attacks on Gaza during the war on Gaza which ended on August.
Ehab Swihel, 14, was injured at the town of Beit Hanoun in the last week of the war. On Monday he went into coma and died on Friday at an Israeli hospital, local sources reported.
In the West Bank this week, four Palestinians, including an elderly woman, were injured On Friday after Israeli forces opened fire on protesters in two separate villages.
72-year-old Yusra Mohammad Al-Haj al-Abd and Jumana Ahmad Shayib, 48, were shot by Israeli forces in their upper bodies during clashes in farun village, just south of Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank., and were taken to a hospital for treatment.
Two more Palestinian youth were reportedly shot with rubber-coated steel bullets during clashes in Safa area of Beit Ummar, to the north of Hebron in southern West Bank.
Earlier in the week, a number of journalists and civilians, on Tuesday, were injured after being targeted by Israeli forces with teargas and explosive acoustic devices, during a non-violent demonstration which took place near an Israeli checkpoint in North Bethlehem.
The demonstration was launched near the ‘300’ checkpoint which leads to Jerusalem. Demonstrators marched to the checkpoint to celebrate Christmas and hand out gifts to children in the area before soldiers attacked the march.
Also on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers invaded Dahiat al-Yasmeen area north of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and demolished a blacksmith workshop. Local sources said that military bulldozers demolished the workshop, causing property damage estimated by more than 250.000 New Israeli Shekels.
On Monday, Israeli municipality workers handed Palestinians home owners in Al Tour area of occupied East Jerusalem demolishing orders, claiming that the homes are built without the needed permission.
According to local sources, two of the homes are built in the 1930’s and two homes do not exist yet. Local sources added that the orders target residents who are active in the community against the Israeli occupation as part of Israeli attempts to punish those who resist in the city.
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 December 20th, to the 26th 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 George Rishmawi and me Ghassan Bannoura.
