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This Week In Palestine – Week 44 2007

Audio Dept. | 02.11.2007 16:33 | Palestine | World

This Week In Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.IMEMC.org, for October 27th through November 2sec. 2007.

This Week In Palestine – Week 44 2007 - mp3 15M


The Israeli Attorney-General rules that the Israeli government should delay its plan to cut Gaza's electricity, while the Israeli army this week conducted at least 37 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

Nonviolent Resistance in West Bank

Let's begin our weekly report with the nonviolent actions in Bethlehem and Ramallah. IMEMC's Manar Jebreen with the details:

Bil'in

On Friday a number of International and Israeli peace activists joined the villagers of Bil'in near the central west Bank city of Ramallah, in their weekly protest against the illegal wall. The main theme of Friday's protest was the 90th anniversary Balfour Agreement promised to the Jewish movement of an independent Jewish country in Palestine.

Protestors walked through the streets of the town and attempted to go to the olive orchards behind the annexation wall. However, they were stopped by the Israeli soldiers who placed barricades on the way to prevent the villagers from reaching their olive trees. Troops threatened to shoot anyone who attempted to go through the barricade. Troops fired several gas and sound bombs, as well as, rubber-coated metal bullets as the protestors attempted to walk through. Two protestors were injured and many suffered from inhaling the tear gas.

On Tuesday the Israeli army invaded the village of Bil'in, kidnapping one international worker. Troops entered the village at around 1:00 am, surrounded the house of Iyad Bornat, head of the local Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements, forced the residents out, and then ransacked the home. During the search, a Polish activist from the International Solidarity Movement was abducted after he attempted to prevent Israeli soldiers from attacking Bornat's family.

Bethlehem

Also on Friday, a group of International and Israeli peace activists joined by the residents of Um Salamounah village near the city of Bethlehem, marched to the village lands annexed during the construction of the Separation Wall and picked olives. The Israeli army that was deployed in the area did not attack the group.

In the early hours of Friday morning, a group of Farmers of Um Salalamounah headed to their lands to pick their olive trees. The soldiers who were around attacked the farmers and ordered them to leave. After a while the farmers were joined by the International peace activists and journalists, and were able to return to their lands. The soldiers who were in the area did not attack them.


For IMEMC.org this Manar Jebreen.



Political report

In political developments this week, the Israeli Attorney-General rules that the Israeli government should delay its plan to cut Gaza's electricity, while, elsewhere, Israel's Foreign Minister rules out the formulation of a negotiations timetable. IMEMC's John Smith has more:

The Israeli Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, on Monday ruled that the Israeli government should temporarily delay its plan to cut electricity to the 1.4 million residents of the Gaza Strip, but added that it was acceptable for Israel to cut Gaza off from the outside world.

The European Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, on the same day warned Israel against initiating a policy of collective punishment on the residents of the Gaza Strip by cutting fuel and electricity supplies to the coastal region.

The Commissioner further stated that Israel should concentrate on bolstering the position of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the November-scheduled Annapolis conference, adding that the EU would be closely monitoring developments, as a breakdown in negotiations could act as the spark that would ignite further violence in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Similar sentiments were expressed by the French Foreign Ministry who condemned such moves, arguing that these measures have a "direct impact on the already alarming humanitarian situation" in Gaza, and adding that it is a violation of international law for Israel to “punish in a collective manner” the people of Gaza.

Palestinian political figures also criticized the continuing embargo on the coastal region, with Chief Palestinian Negotiator Sa'eb Erekat on Tuesday calling on the European Union to intervene in the current Gaza crisis and prevent Israel from further barring supplies of food, medicine, and fuel to the costal region, and Tayseer Khalid, a senior leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and member of the PLO Executive Committee, calling for international protection of Gaza.

Elsewhere, Palestinian Negotiator Ahmad Qureia on Tuesday claimed that negotiations with Israel remained ongoing and serious, but criticized a perceived lack of haste on the part of the Israeli negotiating team. In a speech delivered jointly to Ramallah and Tel Aviv for the International Communist Committee of the Middle East, Qureia warned that while success at the Annapolis conference could represent a quantitative leap forward for the whole region; failure could mean a return to violence and the reinforcing of extremism.

In response to such claims, Yuval Diskin, head of the Israeli Shin Bet, on Tuesday told a Knesset committee that Palestinians were 'exhausted' and lacked the will for such a confrontation.

President Abbas confirmed on Wednesday that he would not make any concessions to the Israeli government, and will demand the implementation of United Nations Security Council’s resolutions pertaining to the Palestinian question.

Abbas also urged Arab states not to commence with any kind of normalization with Israel until the latter withdraws from the lands occupied in 1967, and accepts a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees, in accordance with UN resolutions, adding that a timetable for such moves should be formulated.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday rejected such calls, arguing that the establishment of a timetable would be counter-productive. Speaking at a press conference in Tel-Aviv, Livni claimed that the Israeli negotiating team would not accept a timeline for negotiations or state-creation.

Meanwhile, Israeli media on Thursday reported aides close to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as indicating that Israel would meet all its road-map obligations, including illegal outpost evacuation. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak cautioned, however, that such a move would not happen before January.

The so-called alternative summit on Middle East peace will be delayed until a date for the Annapolis conference is announced, a senior Islamic Jihad official stated Wednesday. Ziad al-Nahla, Islamic Jihad Deputy Secretary-General, stated that the summit would be put on short-term hiatus until a date for the Annapolis conference was revealed, adding that the postponement was scheduled so that the two summits would coincide, and had nothing to do with recent efforts to sabotage the summit by the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday told reporters that he had been diagnosed with the signs of a non-life threatening cancerous tumor in his prostate, but vowed that he would not strand down from his position. He told reporters that he was diagnosed with the disease earlier in October during a routine medical check-up.

For IMEMC.org, this is John Smith

The Israeli attacks

The West Bank

This week the Israeli army conducted at least 37 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During those invasions Israeli troops kidnapped 78 Palestinian civilians, including 6 children and 2 women. IMEMC's Ghassan Bannoura has more:

The Israeli army attacks this week were concentrated in West Bank cities of Hebron, Nablus, and Jenin, with the number of Palestinians kidnapped by the Israeli army in the West Bank since the beginning of this year mounting to 2,261.

An Israeli court ordered, this week, the child of a Palestinian resistance fighter to pay for the cost of transporting the body. Farah Yasseen, 7, the daughter of Mustafa Yasseen, a resistance fighter killed in 2002, received the order that she has to pay 400 USD for the cost of the Israeli ambulance that transported the body of her father from the Israeli hospital back to the family house in Aneen village, located near the northern West Bank city of Jenin. The court, which the family did not know about, ruled that the child should pay the cost of the Israeli ambulance or faces the consequences.

Israeli authorities continued their assaults against Arab villages in the Negev, demolishing nine homes. The Authorities demolished four houses in Wadi Al Ni’am, including the house of Salama Al Danfeery, who managed on Wednesday to obtain an order from an Israeli court to halt the demolition. The order was ignored.

Palestinian detainee Amna Mona, in solitary confinement in the Al Ramla Israeli detention facility, continued on Thursday her four-day-old hunger strike in protest against the ongoing violations and illegal acts against Palestinian prisoners.

A number of civilians and police officers were on Tuesday morning wounded following clashes in the Druze town of Peki'in, located in the upper Galilee. Israeli sources report that at least 27 police officers and 10 inhabitants of the town were injured in clashes prompted by the installation cellular telephone mast. Of those inured, two are serious condition.

Residents of the village had previously expressed their dissatisfaction at the installation of the telephone mast, arguing that such structures would increase the cancer rate in the local area. According to several residents, police forces provoked the disturbance by moving into the village, using tear-gas, and entering the local Druze place of worship.

The residents of Kufer Qassem, a Palestinian village now located inside Israeli territory, on Monday remembered the fifty-first anniversary of an Israeli massacre in the village. On October 29, 1956, Israeli soldiers imposed a total siege on the village, shortly after which 49 civilians, among them women and children, were mercilessly slaughtered. After 51 years, the Israeli government continues to refuse that the events constituted a massacre, and continues to brand them a 'mistake'.


For IMEMC.org this Ghassan Bannoura.


The Gaza strip

In the Gaza Strip this week, the Israeli army conducted 12 invasions into Palestinian communities. During those invasions Israeli troops killed a number of Palestinians, transformed a number of houses into military sites, kidnapped at least 10 Palestinian civilians, and razed 32 Dunums of agricultural land. From Gaza IMEMC's Rami Al Mughari has more:

The ruling Hamas movement on Thursday called on all Palestinian resistance factions to declare a high state of alert, in preparation for an imminent Israeli massive offensive on the coastal region. In a statement faxed to press, the group said it would work on setting up a joint operations room, comprised of all resistance factions and equipped with all required logistical support, in a bid to defer likely Israeli attacks on Gaza.

A Palestinian man was killed, and several others wounded, after the Israeli army on Wednesday afternoon attacked Juhr ad Deek village, in the central Gaza Strip. Medical sources confirmed the death of the man, identified as Mahmoud al-Haj, 23, adding that he bled to death after being hit by shrapnel from a tank shell.

Five Palestinians were killed and a number of others wounded when Israeli warplanes pounded a Palestinian police center in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Palestinian medics reported that at least five dead bodies had been transferred to the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis city in southern Gaza. Sources in the Hamas-led government, which controls the police force in southern Gaza, confirmed the air strike and identified the dead as Ismail Qdaih, Bellal Abu Awad, Mahmoud Radwan and Maher Abu Tair.

Four Palestinians, and one Israeli soldier, were killed in the early hours of Monday morning when Israeli forces invaded the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, and an area near the southern Gaza city of Rafah. In Beit Hanoun, three Palestinians were killed when a large Israeli force invaded the area, razing lands and shelling a local college.

After local resistance fighters clashed with the invading soldiers, medical sources reported that three Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire. The men were identified as Ahmad al-Zanin, Ahmad Abu Oudah, and Mohammed Hamad, a member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. At least 5 other Palestinians were injured in the attack. One Israeli soldier was reportedly seriously injured in the invasion.

Elsewhere, after clashes between resistance fighters and invading Israeli Special Forces near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, medical sources announced that one man, identified as Ahmad Abu Tahoun, 22, had been killed by Israeli gunfire. Four others were moderately to seriously injured. Israeli media sources reported that one soldier, identified as Ehud Efrati, was also killed in the confrontation.

The soldier was killed after a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at his position. Earlier on Sunday night, two members of the al-Qassam brigades were moderately injured when they clashed with Israeli forces in the al-Sunaty area of Khan Younis.

For IMEMC.org this Rami Al Mughari in Gaza.


Civil unrest

The Fatah movement continues to arrest Hamas members in the West Bank, and Hamas accuses Fatah of disrupting law and order in the costal region. IMEMC's Nate Bremen with the details:

A new training school has opened in Jericho, in the West Bank, in which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will build up a security force with US funds, apparently in order to counter his rival Hamas. The 142 officers who are scheduled to graduate in eight months are the front line of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' campaign to assert control in the West Bank and keep it from falling to Hamas.

Abbas is also attempting to reassure Israel and the U.S. that he's strong enough to keep the elected Hamas party down. The officers are studying Hebrew (Israel’s official language) and training in the use of arms, with Israeli officials providing some of the training. The U.S. government has promised $86 million to support Abbas’ security forces.

A blast on Wednesday morning ripped through a beauty salon in Gaza city, causing severe damage to the shop and other nearby structures. Medics later confirmed that no one had been injured in the explosion.

Official sources of the Palestinian police in Hebron announced on Tuesday that three police officers had been injured by unknown gunmen. Police sources reported that masked men opened fire on a police car in the Jabal Abu Ruman area of Hebron, and then fled the scene.

Hamas sources this week said that Fatah loyal security forces in the West Bank continued to attack the movement's members across the region, with reports indicating that those forces has arrested at least 15 Hamas members.

Palestinian medical sources reported on Saturday morning that three Palestinian civilians, one adult and two children, were killed when an unknown explosion struck a house in Al Qarara village, in the southern part of the Gaza strip. Witnesses reported that the house belongs to the Abu Sabet family, and added that several bystanders were injured in the explosion. The Israeli army claims it was not responsible for the explosion.

Palestinian security sources of the deposed Hamas government have reported that Fatah-affiliated individuals bombed a police car in the city of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza strip, on Saturday. The sources said that a home-made bomb was planted in a police jeep parked near a police station in Khan Younis, and was then set off remotely. Medical sources reported no injuries.

For IMEMC.org this is Nate Bremen.

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 Caysha Cay.


Audio Dept.
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