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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for January 31st, to February 6th, 2015.
United Nations and Arab league top officials called this week for accelerating the reconstruction of Gaza, meanwhile Israeli attacks targeting West Bank and Gaza communities leave one killed and at least 10 others injured .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. one civilian was injured meanwhile dozens others were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation Israeli soldiers attacked anti wall nonviolent protests organized in West Bank village using tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali has more:
Protests were organized on Friday in the village of Kufer Qadum in northern West Bank, the villages of al Nabi Saleh, Bil’in, Nil’in, central West Bank, and Al Ma’ssara village in southern west Bank. In Kufer Qadum, many civilians including journalists were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when troops stopped the villagers and their supporters at the village entrance and showered them with tear gas.
Elsewhere on Friday, Israeli soldiers used tear gas and sound bombs as well as chemical water to attack the weekly anti wall and settlements protests at villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin, and the nearby al Nabi Saleh. One civilians sustained light wounds in Bil’in after he was hit with a tear gas bomb in his leg. In all three locations many civilians were treated from the effects of tear gas inhalation. 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.
Also on Friday, scores of Palestinians and international supporters, gathered at the location of the Jerusalem Gate protest village, near Jerusalem. The protest tent village was demolished by Israeli troops on Thursday. The protest village, composed of three tents, was installed to protest Israel’s plan to remove the al-Jahalin Bedouin tribe, in occupied East Jerusalem, and Israel’s settlement construction in different parts of occupied Palestine, including occupied Jerusalem.
For IMEMC News this is Majd Batjali.
The Political Report
This week the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called for accelerating the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza. Meanwhile Palestinian factions denounce an Egyptian court’s ruling. IMEMC’s Rami al Meghari with the details:
United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon and Secretary General of the Arab League, Mohammad Alaraby, both called for accelerating reconstruction process of the war-torn occupied Gaza Strip.
The two secretaries urged donor countries to live up with a pledge to fund the process, made in Cairo in October of last year. Ki-Moon described the situation in Gaza extremely bad, with dozens of thousands of families, being displaced because of the last summer Israeli war on the territory.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Alhamdallah, called for pressuring Israel to release tax revenues, due to the Palestinian Authority. Alhamdallah maintained that the PA is going through a financial deficit, yet it is determined to fund salaries of it’s public servants, even partially.
At the political internal level, Gaza-based political factions all denounced a latest Egyptian court’s ruling that dubbed Hamas’s Ezzelidin Elqassam militant group, as terrorist. The factions called on Egypt to reconsider the decision, which they consider as improper.
For IMEMC News, I am Rami Almeghari in Gaza.
The West Bank and Gaza Report
This week, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian teenager in northern West Bank, meanwhile settlers attacks left at least 10 Palestinians injured this week meanwhile, In Gaza Israeli navy continued to attack Gaza fishermen. IMEMC’s Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura reports:
On Sunday, a Palestinian teenager from Burin village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, was shot and killed, on Saturday evening, by Israeli army fire, while another Palestinian was injured, and kidnapped. Local sources said that soldiers killed Ahmad Ibrahim Najjar, 19 years of age, near a bypass road used by Israeli soldiers and settlers, between the villages of Burin and Madama. The Israeli army claimed Najjar and other Palestinians hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli military vehicles, and settlers’ cars.
On Monday an Israeli settler shot and injured a 17-year-old Muhammad Yusuf Burqan in the Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Monday, according to witnesses. The youth was shot while tending to a small herd of sheep in the Wadi Yasul area of the neighborhood.
Moreover, and Israeli settler’s car, on Monday, ran over a nun in Bab al-Amoud, also known as the Damascus Gate, in occupied East Jerusalem, said a Palestinian paramedic. The nun was hit by a settler’s speeding car and also knocked down a pedestrian crossing the street, said Basem Zeidani, who works as a paramedic.
Also on Monday an Israeli settler vehicle crashed into a car belonging to Palestinian Authority security forces near Hebron injuring seven security officers.
Palestinian security officials told local news that the crash occurred near el-Arrub refugee camp, to the north of Hebron, with initial reports indicating that the incident was deliberate. The officers were taken to hospital with light to moderate injuries.
Elsewhere, at least eight Palestinians, all women, have been killed and dozens of others injured in a bus crash occurring in southern Israel, according to media sources. According to reports, the bus carrying Palestinian passengers, most of whom were women, from the Naqab village of Hora collided with a track and a tractor at a highway in the Negev region.
Later in the week, two children were injured, on Thursday evening, after several Israeli military vehicles invaded Ya’bad town, southwest of Jenin city, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. Soldiers also kidnapped a child, and a wounded young man, in Hebron.
In Gaza this week, Israeli soldiers opened fire in the direction of Palestinian protesters marching near the border fence in the Gaza Strip, on Sunday. According to organizers, the march was in protest over the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and Israel’s refusal to allow reconstruction materials into Gaza.
Also this week Israeli navy continued to attack Gaza fishermen. Attacks were reported on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Local sources said that the Israeli navy fired heavy rounds of live ammunition towards the boats, forcing the fishers to sail much closer to the shore, fearing for their lives.
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 January 31st, to February 6th, 2015. 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.
