Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for March 04, to the 10, 2017.
Israel’s Parliament this week passes a law banning boycott activists from entering the country as troops kill an activist during invasions targeting West Bank communities this week. 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. A Palestinian child was injured, scores of protesters were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation on Friday as Israeli forces attacked nonviolent protests organized in West Bank villages. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali has more:
A 14 year old child was injured in his foot, many villagers were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when soldiers attacked the weekly protest in the central West Bank village of Ni’lin on Friday.
In the meantime at nearby Bil’in village, many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when troops attacked the anti-wall protest there. In both Bil’in and Ni’lin protests reached the gate in the wall that separates local farmers from their lands. Israeli troops on Friday morning closed roads leading to the village of Bil’in in an attempt to stop supporters from reaching the Friday protest.
Also in central West Bank, many villagers were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when soldiers attacked the weekly protest in the village of al Nabi Saleh on Friday.
Troops attacked the protest at the village entrance using live rounds, tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Later troops stormed and fired tear gas at residents homes, many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation as a result.
Moreover many civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation as Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest organized by the villagers of Kufer Kadum in northern West Bank.
For IMEMC News this is Majd Batjali.
The Political Report
Netanyahu meets with Putin over Iran’s role in Syria and the Israeli Parliament to bar boycott supporters to enter Israel, IMEMC’s George Rishmawi with the details:
Prior to his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a press statement announcing that the latter will reiterate to Putin the fact that the Golan Heights is not part of the discussion.
Media sources reported that Netanyahu’s meeting with Putin in Moscow was mainly focused on the role of Iran in Syria, during which Netanyahu insisted that there could never be peace in Syria as long as there was an Iranian presence there.
Netanyahu’s attempt to use the Russia-Iran odds in Syria failed. He cited the Jewish saving from the Haman in Persia, however Putin reminded him that this happened in the fifth century and that the world is different today.
This is not the first time Netanyahu speaks of the occupied Golan Heights as part of Israel and out of discussion. Netanyahu also brought up Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan on February 15, 2017, during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Also this week, The Israelis parliament has passed a bill barring foreign nationals or organizations supporting a boycott of Israel from entering the country. The law has polarized many in the Knesset, with left-wing politicians “embarrassed” by the travel ban.
According to AFP, a statement by the Knesset said that “A visa will not be granted nor a residence permit of any kind to any person who is not an Israeli citizen or permanent resident if he, or the organization or body in which he is active, has knowingly issued a public call to boycott the state of Israel or pledged to take part in such a boycott.”
The Knesset passed on its second and third readings the entry into Israel bill, with 46 lawmakers voting in favor, and 28 voting against it.
The Boycotts Divestment and Sanctions movement also known as BDS is rapidly growing in Europe more than in the United States and more churches, companies and Academic institutions are getting on board. Israel is responding with tough measures and decisions in addition to lobbying European governments to outlaw boycotts against Israel.
For IMEMC News, this is George Rishmawi
The West Bank and Gaza Report
This week, a Palestinian activist was killed, a farmer injured, meanwhile scores detained during Israeli army invasions targeting West Bank and Gaza communities. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura Reports:
Palestinian historian and activist, Bassel al-A’raj, 31, was killed by Israeli troops on Monday at dawn, after Israeli forces surrounded his home located al-Biereh town, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Troops surrounded the home where al-A’raj was hiding and exchanged fire with him for more than two hours, until he ran out of ammunition.
al-A’raj from the al-Walaja village has been wanted by the Israeli army for several months, and the soldiers frequently invaded his home, and his family’s homes, looking for him, amidst violent searches. Two more youth were injured by the army fire as clashes erupted between the invading soldiers, and dozens of local youths, who hurled stones and empty bottles on them, while the army fired many live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets and gas bombs.
Also this week Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in different parts of the West Bank. On Monday, armed Israeli settlers assaulted many Palestinian farmers, in their own lands, in Far’ata village, in northern West Bank, wounding two, including an elderly woman. On Thursday of this week, Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees and sprayed chemical poison on other trees owned by Palestinian farmers from the southern West Bank village of Yatta.
During the week, Israeli forces conducted at least 62 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. During these invasions, Israeli troops abducted 57 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children and three law-makers.
Moreover, detained journalist, Mohammad al-Qeeq ended his hunger strike on Friday on this week, upon reaching a deal with Israeli Prison Services, to be released on April 14. Al-Qeeq, a started his hunger strike on February, in protest of being held under administrative detention, Israel’s widely condemned policy of imprisonment without charge or trial. He was moved on Wednesday of this week, to a hospital in Tel Aviv, after his medical condition significantly deteriorated.
Elsewhere this week, Eight Palestinian workers, on Wednesday, survived after a smuggling tunnel collapsed beneath the southern Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt. Civil defense teams managed to pull out the eight workers who were trapped under rubble after the tunnel collapsed while they were inside it. Smuggling tunnels passing beneath the Egyptian border have served as a lifeline to the outside world for Gaza’s 1.8 million inhabitants, since Israel imposed a crippling siege on the coastal enclave in 2007.
Also in Gaza this week, A Palestinian young man was injured, on Tuesday morning, after Israeli soldiers, accompanied by tanks and bulldozers, invaded farmlands in northern Gaza, and bulldozed them, while firing live rounds and a few shells.
For IMEMC News this is Ghassan Bannoura.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine. This was the Weekly report for March 04, to the 10,, 2017. From the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www-dot-imemc-dot-org, This week’s report has been brought to you by Sa’ed Naji and me Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura.
