As Palestinians celebrate Christmas, Israeli army attacks on Gaza this week leaves seven Palestinians dead, these stories and more coming up. Please stay tuned.

Nonviolent Activities

Let us begin our weekly report with the nonviolent activities in the West Bank with IMEMC's George Rishmawi:

Bil'in

On Friday, Bil'in village residents, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, conducted their weekly protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall. Locals were joined by international and Israeli peace activists for Friday's protest. The protesters marched to the village lands behind the illegal wall waving Palestinian flags and banners. Santa Clause also joined the protest today, and congratulated Muslims for the al-Adha Eid and Christians for Christmas.

When the demonstrators approached the gate of the wall, the Israeli Army prevented them from crossing the main gate where soldiers were standing behind concrete blocks. When the protesters attempted to cross the gate, troops fired stun grenades, tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets. The wounded were identified as Wa’el Fahmi Nasser and Adeeb Abu Rahma.

Ni'lin

Three Palestinian civilians were lightly injured and dozens suffered gas inhalation on Friday afternoon in an anti-wall protest organized by the village people of Ni'lin, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

The village people were peacefully protesting Israel's illegal wall being built on their land. Local sources reported that Israeli troops blocked the village entrance in order to stop Israeli and international peace activists from joining the villagers in their protest.

Three were wounded as they threw rocks at the soldiers blocking the village’s entrance, who responded by firing rubber-coated steel bullets.

Al-Ma'sara

At least 200 Palestinians from al-Ma'sara village located near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, supported by international and Israeli peace activists, protested against the Israeli Annexation Wall on Friday. The protest today was organized in the area Israel is building the illegal wall. The demonstration was lead by the groom of a wedding party, Mohammad Zawahra.

Bride Yasameen Zawahra, was en route from the city of Bethlehem to the village when troops stopped her at the wall and attacked her. Eyewitnesses told IMEMC that Yasameen sustained mild injuries. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers invaded the wedding party with tear gas and sound bombs.

Two civilians sustained mild injuries and another two civilians were kidnapped by the Israeli military. One of those kidnapped told IMEMC that soldiers took him to a nearby military outpost. He was released after two hours, while the other kidnapped civilian was taken to a prison in Jerusalem.

Shepherds Nights

This week, local Christians and Muslims of Beit Sahour, organized two-days of activities for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The activities of the Shepherds’ Nights aimed at highlighting the need for protection of the lands celebrated as the place where the Shepherds received the good tidings of the Birth of Jesus and his birthplace. Activities were organized by the YMCA, the Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People, and its alternative tourism division, the Siraj Center.

On Christmas Eve, celebrations began with an attendance of over 800 local residents and 60 internationals at the traditional prayers and carols held at sunset at the cave in the YMCA in the Shepherds field. This was followed by a night of music and entertainment in Beit Sahour.

On Christmas day, despite the cold and the rain, over 200 people participated in the annual candle light procession which starts in the land of the Shepherds, carrying messages of peace and freedom. This year the procession moved from the Greek Orthodox Shepherds field to Ush Ghrab.

Israeli Jewish-only colonial settlements now ring the Bethlehem/Beit Sahour area from the North, West and South. Ush Ghrab is a Palestinian hill to the east that settlers want to occupy and complete the ring of settlements around the area.

For IMEMC.org this is George Rishmawi.



Political Report

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, met this week with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo as Israeli Foreign Minister, Tsibi Livni, also met with the Egyptian President, Husnin Mubarak. Meetings underway are aimed at containing the current increasingly volatile situation in Gaza, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh explains.

Livni chose her visit to Cairo to announce that her government would initiate military action to stop the homemade shells fired from Gaza into nearby Israeli towns following the breakdown of a 6 month truce that obligated Israel to keep the borders open. Egyptian mediators warned Israel against any military offensive on the coastal region that would harm Israeli-Egyptian diplomatic ties. Political analyst in Gaza, Talal Aukal commented on the situation:


"Perhaps some parties are making some mediation efforts, but, for election purposes, Israel wants more time for the situation on the ground to escalate further".

Israeli officials are currently engaged in preparations for general elections in February. Israeli opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, believes that what is required are measures aimed at helping to improve Gaza's economy. Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, urged Gaza's population to reject the Hamas rulers who were outlawed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after the party seized control of Gaza in June 2007.

President Abbas, for his part, has been discussing with Egyptian officials possible ways to manage the situation following the end of the six-month ceasefire between Israel and Gaza-based resistance factions. Abbas addressed the Palestinians in his Christmas Holiday speech this week, emphasizing his sadness at the current humanitarian situation in Gaza.

On the ground in Gaza, UN officials warned of a looming humanitarian crisis, unless Israel reopens commercial crossings. Abbas, who has engaged in peace talks with Israel since coming to power in 2005, called once again for a national unity dialogue with the ruling Hamas party in Gaza.

During an interview with IMEMC's correspondent in Gaza this week, Hamas's spokesman Ayman Taha, confirmed that his ruling party will declare Abbas an illegitimate leader after January 9, 2009, the deadline for Abbas' term in office.

Later in the week, the Ofer Israeli Military Court sentenced the Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Sa’adat to 30 years imprisonment because of his role and status as Secretary-General of the organization.
An Israeli Army statement said the finding of guilt is based on Sa'adat's position within the PFLP and the general actions and structure of the organization.
In March 2006, Sa'adat was kidnapped by Israeli soldiers in a controversial raid on Jericho prison where he stood accused of the murder of Israeli Tourism Minister, Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001. This weeks decision to impose a 30 year sentence on Sa'adat was made despite Israeli prosecutors' decision to withdraw all charges against Sa'adat related to the assassination of Ze'evi.

The PFLP claimed responsibility for killing the rightwing Ze’evi (who advocated ethnic cleansing) in response to the killing of its own leader Abu Ali Mustapha. On Monday December 1, 2008, the Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem sentenced the head of the armed wing of the PFLP, Ahed Ghalama, to one life-term, and an additional five years for the assassination of Ze’evi.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has denounced the decision calling it "unjust and without legal foundation." For IMEMC.org this is Mazin Qumsiyeh.


Israeli Attacks

Gaza

As the situation in Gaza grows tenser, the Israeli military this week killed seven resistance fighters and wounded about six others, including women. Israeli military officials have announced a large-scale offensive on the coastal territory.


Israeli army officials threatened over the weekend that they would carry out a large-scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip, officials said in what would be a bid to end the Hamas rule in Gaza.

Israeli foreign minister, Tsibi Livni, was quoted as saying that Hamas should be toppled by economic, political and military means.

On the ground, the region this week saw Israeli air assaults as well as a series of homemade shells land in nearby Israeli towns.

In Gaza, seven people including resistance fighters were killed and at least six others wounded during Israeli air raids on eastern and northern Gaza Strip.

In southern Israel, a number of slight injuries were reported due to the firing of dozens of homemade shells into nearby Israeli towns by Palestinian resistance groups.

Tension in the coastal territory followed the end of a temporary six-month ceasefire that Egypt brokered in June. Efforts are currently underway to contain the situation in an attempt to renew the deal.

Concurrently, all Gaza's crossings remain closed. With a severe lack of essential goods and commodities such as flour, this blockade is contributing to a serious humanitarian crisis in the area.

Bakeries Association in Gaza declared this week that the lack of flour will force Gaza's 47 bakeries to shut down, leaving 1.5 million residents without bread.

Similarly, the United Nations Works and Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a main provider of food supplies to Gaza's 750,000 refugees, announced on December18 that it had run out of wheat.

Early this week, a Qatari ship, supervised by the Free Gaza Movement, docked at Gaza's abandoned seas as the first Arab boat of solidarity with the besieged Gaza population.

For over 18 months, Israel has enforced a crippling closure on Gaza which began on June 14 2007 after the Islamist Hamas party gained power in the region, amidst factional fighting with the Fatah Party of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

For IMEMC.org this is Rami Al Meghari in Gaza.

The West Bank

This week the Israeli army conducted at least 25 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Attacks were reported in Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Jenin; IMEMC's Samer Jaber with the details.

During this week's attacks, the Israeli army kidnapped 18 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children. The number of Palestinian civilians kidnapped by the Israeli army in the West Bank since the beginning of 2008 has now mounted to 2,329.

On Friday, the Israeli Army attacked the village Jayous, located near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, injuring three local boys.

Local sources said that Army troops attacked local youths which led to clashes. During these clashes, medical sources said that three sustained moderate wounds.

On Sunday, Israeli troops stormed al-Karantina medical center in the old town of Hebron. They broke doors and searched and damaged the center.

Meanwhile another Israeli force moved into Beer al-Basha village, south of Jenin city. They raided the site of a transmission tower of Jawal (the Palestinian mobile company). They questioned a worker, Mohammed Yousef Daqqa and left.

Later in the week, Israeli troops invaded, on Tuesday al-Burj village, southwest of Hebron. They raided and searched a number of houses and the building of the local council. They confiscated some documents and stickers from the building of the local council.

For IMEMC.org this is Samer Jaber



Bethlehem Christmas 2008

As Bethlehem celebrated Christmas this week, the people living there continue to have to live with significant hardships, meanwhile the Palestinian Authorities says that the number of tourists visiting the Holy City have increased this year. IMEMC's Ghassan Bannoura has the story:


"Because I have no permission to work in Israel, I have lost most of my work, and now I only make about 10% of what I used to make before, which affected me economically, especially during the Christmas celebration. Now I can't buy the things I need, such as clothes for my wife and I; we can only afford things for our children now."
The economy in Bethlehem city depends, for the most part, on tourism and related work, such as souvenir manufacturing and retail shops to sell the products. Ronni Dabash is the third generation of his family to run the family souvenirs shop, located right next to the Church of the Nativity. Most tourists arrive as part of a tour package sold by Israeli companies. These companies keep tourists from visiting shops like Ronni's.

" we are not seeing any tourists coming to this market near the Nativity Church, because as we said, the problem that the tourists are coming, visiting the church, and then to the bus, so we need the tourists to go all around Bethlehem, maybe half an hour a free tour around Bethlehem, shopping, restaurants, all over Bethlehem."
The holy city of Bethlehem is completely surrounded by the Israeli annexation wall and illegal settlements. Frequent Israeli Army attacks on Bethlehem are effectively driving the local economy to the edge of collapse. To make the situation worse, the Israeli tour companies and guides detract tourists from local shops by telling them the city is too "dangerous".
For now, the increased number of tourists in Bethlehem is yet to translate into something meaningful to the residents living there.
For IMEMC.org this is Ghassan Bannoura

Conclusion

And that was just some of the news this week in Palestine. For constant updates, please check out our website, www.IMEMC.org. Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. This week's report has been brought to you by Hussam Qassis and Marsen Cole.