A new US arms deal boosts military aid to Israel by 25%, while the Israeli army continue to attack Palestinian killing seven this week, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine

Let's begin our weekly report with news of nonviolent action in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem against the wall and settlements. IMEMC's David Johns has the details:

Bil'in

The residents of the village of Bil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, joined by international and Israeli supporters, conducted their weekly non-violent protest against the wall this Friday afternoon. As they do every week after Friday prayers, protesters marched towards the location of the wall, but were stopped by an Israeli military barricade.

At the barricade, soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and sound bombs at the protestors, injuring 5, among them 4 journalists. The journalists were identified as Fadi Abu Eid, Bakkir Abu Arghila and Kamal al-Azraq, who all work for Ramatan News Agency, and Ayman al-Nubani, who works for an international TV station.

The protest lasted for several hours, during which Spanish and German clowns put on a show to cheer up the village children. As the organizers ended the demonstration, they promised to return next week.

Walaja

Also on Friday a demonstration took place in Al-Walaja village, near Bethlehem, against the ongoing Israeli occupation which has hit the village particularly hard. Approximately 120 people – Palestinians, Israelis and internationals – came to show peaceful solidarity with the village, facing 6 army jeeps and around 30 Israeli soldiers. One Irish activist was slightly injured by soldiers.

Since the 1980s Al-Walaja has been overlooked by Har Gilo settlement, built upon their land and the land of the adjacent town of Beit Jala. Current Israeli plans will see the village entirely encircled by the Apartheid Wall within a few years, turning this tranquil spot into an open-air prison.

For IMEMC.org this is David Johns.

Political report

A new US arms deal boosts military aid to Israel by 25% and a new plan is announced by Israel to improve living conditions for Palestinians whilst dialogue with Hamas remains a contentious issue both in Palestine and internationally. All this and more in this week's political report from Dave Stockwell.

In an unprecedented move, the U.S. government has approved a $30 billion military aid package to Israel over ten years, in an attempt to bolster Israel’s military power. This represents a 25% rise in US military aid to Israel.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said ‘We look at this region and we see that a secure and strong Israel is in the interest of the United States.' The US Administration is also hoping to sell $20 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and its neighbours, in an effort to boost so-called 'moderate' Arab regimes.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of the Palestinian interim government Salam Fayyad met today with Burns to discuss their respective visions for the future ahead of an international peace conference planned for the autumn.

An economic plan to improve living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza was announced on Wednesday by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, following a meeting in Jericho with representatives of the PLO, Jordan and Japan. The plan includes proposals to improve Palestinian electricity, water and sewage systems. Central to the plan is the Peace Valley project which will connect the Red Sea to the Dead Sea in order to ease tension between Israelis and Palestinians over water and create industrial and farming zones in the Jordan Valley.

In the UK, the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee released a report on Monday condemning the international boycott of the Hamas government as counterproductive and calling on London to begin dialogue with Hamas, as well as Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The Israeli ambassador in Britain Zvi Heifetz dismissed the report as 'saddening' and 'unhelpful'.

The Committee's report echoed comments on Sunday by Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who stated "One must push for dialogue so that it happens, and not shut anyone out of dialogue. Hamas exists. It's a complex structure that we should help to evolve - but this should be done with transparency."

In a meeting with the Japanese foreign minister Taro Aso on Wednesday, President Abbas called on Hamas to renounce control of Gaza as a precondition for beginning dialogue with the group.

During Abbas's visit to Russia earlier this week, President Putin announced that whilst his government will continue to negotiate with Hamas, it is downgrading its ties with the Islamist group in an attempt to support Abbas, whom he called the 'legitimate leader of the Palestinian people.'

Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Abulgheit denied this week his country is biased toward any Palestinian body, urging both Fatah and Hamas to return to the table and solve their differences. Egypt had been actively involved in Fatah-Hamas talks in Gaza and Cairo prior to Hamas's Gaza takeover in June, but many see them as biased towards Fatah.

On the economic front, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency announced that unless the Gaza Strips's border crossings are reopened in the next few weeks, Gaza's population will depend entirely on UN aid.

Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesman of the UNRWA in Gaza, told IMEMC: "if the crossings aren't reopened soon, poverty and unemployment rates will hit unprecedented levels".

For IMEMC.org this is Dave Stockwell.


The Israeli attacks
The West Bank

During the Week the Israeli army conducted at least 32 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza. During those invasions Israeli troops kidnapped 62 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including 2 children, and 80 in the Gaza strip. Thus the number of Palestinians kidnapped by the Israeli army this year has mounted to 1844. IMEMC's Kate Green has more:

Israeli soldiers have set fire to 5 dunams of olive groves in Dier El Hatab located in the Eastern West Bank City of Nablus. Husien Qasim Husien, the resident and owner of the land, reported that the Israeli army has established a military base for training purposes near his land, over an area of 90 dunams. The Israeli military banned him from carrying out his usual agricultural work and destroyed all his olive trees by setting fire to his land.

On Wednesday morning, Israeli army bulldozers started to bulldoze trees in a forest located near Al Walaja, West of Bethlehem city in the southern part of the West Bank. Witnesses said that the beseiged forest consists of 2200 trees and belongs to Crimasan Catholic convent and winery. The Israeli army plans to build a section of the illegal wall there.

On Monday an Israeli force unit carried out widespread abductions of Palestinian workers near the illegal Wall, located in front of Dahiyat Al Bareed and Al Ram town to the north of Jerusalem city, preventing them from crossing to the other side of the Wall and entering Jerusalem. Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers kidnapped several civilians, aggressively attacked them and moved them to a nearby checkpoint where they were detained without shelter from the sun.

Israeli army bulldozers on Monday morning demolished Palestinian-owned animal sheds and farmers’ huts in the Jordan valley, located in the eastern part of the West Bank. The farmers said that their families had lived and worked on the land for hundreds of years. The Israeli army justified its actions by stating that the area is a closed military zone and is therefore closed to Palestinian access.

For IMEMC.org this is Kate Green

The Gaza attacks

This week seven Palestinians were killed in a continued attack by the Israeli army on the Gaza strip, IMEMC's Louisa White:

During the one day operation in Abasan area, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, seven residents, including four fighters, were killed and at least fifteen were officially reported injured; the army also uprooted and bulldozed agricultural lands, and some homes. Medical sources in Khan Younis reported that after the army withdrew from Abasan on Tuesday evening, medics found three bodies of residents who were shot and killed during the invasion.

Two of the killed are members of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. The invasion in Abasan was carried out after the Israeli air force fired a missile at fighters of the Al Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad. Three fighters of the Al Quds brigades were also injured, one seriously, when an Israeli missile was fired at them.

On Tuesday at dawn, four residents, including a woman and her son, who is a resistance fighter, were killed as the army invaded the area. Medical sources in Khan Younis reported that at least fifteen residents were injured, some seriously, An Israeli army source only admitted that the army killed four Palestinians, without giving further details, and added that at least 80 residents were kidnapped in the attack.

Israeli naval forces took a number of fishermen prisoners on Thursday on Rafah shores in southern Gaza Strip, media sources and locals confirmed. The sources revealed that an Israeli military vessel intercepted a Palestinian fishing boat, belonging to the family of Abu Shalouf, and then arrested the two men inside, taking them to unknown destination and seizing the boat. Since June 2006, the Israeli naval forces have been pursuing Palestinian fishing boats denying them access to 2 nautical miles of shoreline. The Fishing industry in the Gaza Strip, which is a main source of food, has been largely affected, as a result.

For IMEMC.org this is Louisa White.

The civil unrest

Civil unrest continued throughout the Palestinian territories this week, with Fatah and Hamas members being kidnapped by each movement's security forces in Gaza and the West Bank. IMEMC’s Bill McGrath:

The employees of Gaza City municipality announced on Saturday an open ended strike for not receiving their salaries since December 2006. The employees said that this strike has no political or factional orientation. The strikers called upon all factions not to force any political or factional conflict on their strike, adding that the strike will be finished as soon as they get their salaries. The 1,000 municipality employees are part of the 64, 000 public sector employees, who have note been paid by the Palestinian government. The EU, USA and Israel have forced a crippling financial siege on the Palestinian Authority that began shortly after Hamas won Palestinian democratic elections in 2006.

Palestinian security forces arrested a Palestinian Camera man from his home in Beit Hannon town in the northern part of the Gaza strip on Saturday morning. The man is working for Ramatan News Agency, a local Palestinian agency working in the Gaza strip and the West Bank. The executive force of Hamas, who made the arrest, was involved in stopping a rally of Fatah supporters, organized in Beit Hannon late Friday night. The Camera man, Ra'ed Kafarnah, talked to IMEMC about his arrest. He said:



"They took me from my house in Beit Hannon to a nearby executive force headquarter, to the interrogation office. They questioned me for some time and then released me after three hours"

Various factions of the Palestinian Liberation Organization called a demonstration against recent attacks on the freedom of the press in the Gaza Strip on Monday. The protest took place in front of the Legislative Council headquarters, located in the centre of Gaza city. During the protest, Hamas and the executive force attacked representatives of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Factional representatives stated that they considered the attack to be part of an ongoing campaign led by executive forces to forbid any criticism of Hamas in the region.

The attack came after the executive force issued a decree forbidding any demonstration that has not been approved by Hamas. The Palestinian security forces released nine Hamas members on late Tuesday night. This occurred after the local court in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem ordered their release on Monday. Two weeks ago, Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas conducted a wide-scale campaign that targeted 13 members of Hamas in the city of Bethlehem. On Monday, the local court ordered their release for lack of evidence. However, the local security forces refused to comply with the order.

On Monday night of this week, the Palestinian security forces abducted several Hamas members in the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, The operation began after evening prayers, when security force members invaded a mosque and attacked the worshipers, arresting three of them. Among those kidnapped was Mustafa Sabri, a Palestinian Journalist working in the city of Qalqilia:



"Any attack on journalists, whether it's by Hamas, Fatah of the security forces, is not acceptable. When I was arrested, they did not question me or present charges against me. It was preventative detention, they said. Is this kind of detention what the security forces do now, is this the law, is this the respect of the civil rights? Does the Emergency law allow those violations against journalists and residents?"

In Gaza on Thursday, the Hamas executive force arrested the Palestinian Attorney General in the coastal region and released him after several hours.

Executive force spokesman, Sabir Khalifa, said that Palestinian Authority Attorney General Ahmad Al Moghanni had been arrested on suspicion of attempting to conceal files containing details of corruption and murder cases involving members of the Palestinian Authority security forces. Yousef Al Mansi, who had been designated Minister of Justice in the Gaza Strip by deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, issued orders to arrest Al Moghanni and to remove him from his post.

The Palestinian Authority's Attorney General's office in Ramallah issued a statement about the arrest of Al Moghanni, saying "the appointment of Al Moghanni was by a presidential decree and any amendments made by the deposed Prime Minister is illegal."

Also on Thursday The Vehicle Licensing and Registration office in the Northern West Bank city of Nablus was attacked at midday by unknown gunmen. The Palestinian Ministry of Transport has since closed the office. A group of unknown gunmen stormed the office and attacked the employees at the office, local sources reported. No injuries were reported during the attack. The gunmen wanted to register a car without completing the needed documents, witnesses said. Dr. Mashhour Abu Duka, the Minister of Transportation, decided to close the office until the Palestinian Authority security forces could provide safety for the employees.

For IMEMC.org this Bill McGrath.


Conclusion

And that’s just some of the news this week in Palestine. For constant updates, check out our website, www.IMEMC.org. Thanks for joining us from Occupied Bethlehem, this is Kate Orwell.