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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for February 21st, to the 27th, 2015.
US court holds the Palestinian Authority and the PLO liable for American citizens killed in Israel, in the meantime Israeli attacks leave one Palestinian youth killed and some eight 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. Four civilians including a journalist, were injured on Friday when Israeli troops attacked the nonviolent protests organized in West Bank villages. IMEMC’s Anna Palulina has more:
A Palestinian camera man working for Reuters was injured, many others were treated for the effect of tear gas inhalation as Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest organized by the villagers of Kufer Kadum in northern West Bank. Soldiers also invaded the village and fired tear gas into residents’ homes, as a result many civilians, including children suffered effects of tear gas inhalation.
Three more civilians were injured by live rounds fired by Israeli troops when they attacked a nonviolent protest in the old part of the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Many other civilians were also treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation. Moreover soldiers kidnapped three Palestinian protesters and took them to unknown location.
In central West Bank, at the villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin, Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters as soon as they reached the gate in the wall that separates local farmers from their lands. Many protesters suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation and were treated by field medics at both locations.
At the nearby al Nabi Saleh village, Israeli troops fired several rounds of rubber-coated steel bullets at the villagers as soon as they reached the village entrance. Moreover Israeli troops fired tear gas at residential areas causing damage to the houses as some of the tear gas canisters went through the windows inside the villagers’ homes.
For IMEMC News this Anna Palulina.
The Political Report
This week, an American court rules the Palestinian Authority and the PLO liable by 218 million dollars in compensations to American citizens killed in Israel, meanwhile Israel increases pressure on the PA to stop its motion towards the International Criminal Court, IMEMC’s George Rishmawi with the details:
Palestinian officials said this week the Palestinian authority (PA) and the Palestinian liberation organization, (PLO) will appeal the Manhattan Court ruling which ordered them to pay some $218 million dollars in compensations to American citizens killed and injured in Palestinian attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004.
Dr. Nabi. Shaath, senior Fatah leader, said the Manhattan Federal Court, which held the PA and the PLO liable for these attacks in six bombings and shooting incidents, made a politically motivated, baseless ruling.
He added that the U.S. court has no jurisdiction, or legal stand, to be looking in such cases, and said if the plaintiffs really had a case against the PLO and the PA, they would have headed to the International Criminal Court, (ICC) instead of suing them in an American court that has no jurisdiction.
Shaath asserted that the PA will go to the ICC to sue Israel for crimes committed against the Palestinians. Palestinian observers believe this ruling and other measures taken by Israel are part of the pressure practiced against the PA to force it not to join the ICC.
Israel has held over $240 million in tax money due to the Palestinians after the PA decided to go to the ICC. Moreover, Israel have decided to cut the power supplying two major districts in the West Bank. The Israeli Energy Company said it will widen the power outage unless the PA pays some $500 million dollars in debts.
In the meantime, settler attacks against Muslim and Christian holy sites continue in different parts of the West Bank, causing series of clashes between the armed settlers and Palestinian civilians.
These attacks, together with the holding of Palestinian tax money are seen by Palestinian observers are part of the Netanyahu’s race to the government as the Israelis are preparing to elect a new Parliament in mid-March.
For IMEMC News, this is George Rishmawi.
The West Bank and Gaza Report
This week Israeli attacks targeting Palestinian communities in Gaza and the West Bank left one teenager killed and at least four other civilians injured. IMEMC’s Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura reports:
A Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli troops on Tuesday at dawn during an army invasion targeting the Deheisheh refugee camp, in the West Bank district of Bethlehem. Jihad Shehada al-Ja’fary, 19 years of age, was standing on his home’s rooftop, overlooking the main road, when he was shot.
The sources added that al-Ja’fary was shot by a live round that penetrated his left shoulder, and lodged in his chest causing a severe bleeding. The soldiers prevented Palestinian medics from reaching the seriously wounded man, and he bled to death before the medics managed to move him to the al-Yamama hospital, in Bethlehem.
Also in Bethlehem, four Palestinian civilians were injured on Sunday late at night by live rounds fired by Israeli troops after dozens of soldiers invaded the ‘Aida refugee camp. The wounded Palestinians suffered moderate injuries, and were moved to the Beit Jala governmental hospital. Scores of Palestinians suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, especially after the soldiers fired gas bombs at several homes.
On Monday evening, a young Palestinian man suffered moderate wounds after being rammed by an Israeli car, belonging to a settler living in an illegal Israeli colony in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.
This week saw Israeli settler’s attacks on Palestinian holy sites. On Wednesday, a group of Israeli extremists burnt a mosque in the al-Jab’a village near Bethlehem and wrote racist anti-Arab and anti-Islamic graffiti. On Thursday, a group of Israeli fanatics burnt a section of the Church of the Dormition, in occupied Jerusalem, causing significant damage, and wrote racist anti-Christian graffiti.
In other news, on Tuesday of this week, Israeli soldiers invaded, al-‘Ardeesa area in Sa’ir town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and demolished an under-construction home. the army gave no reason for demolishing the house.
In Gaza this week, Israeli forces, Thursday afternoon, opened gunfire on Palestinian houses in the central Gaza Strip. Soldiers deployed and stationed along the border to the east of the blockaded strip indiscriminately opened fire on Palestinian houses.
No casualties were reported in the cross-border attack which constitutes a flagrant violation of the ceasefire deal that ended the latest deadly Israeli onslaught assault on the war-torn coastal enclave last summer.
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 February 21st, to the 27th, 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.
