Palestinian and Israeli sources confirmed the possibility of reaching prisoner swap agreement while the number of Palestinian patients who died in the continued Israeli siege on the Costal region has reached 312. These stories and more, coming up.

Nonviolent Activities

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


Ramallah

Scores of villagers from Nil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, held their weekly protest on Friday midday against the illegal Israeli wall being built on village land. International and Israeli solidarity workers joined the villagers and marched towards the land which is being confiscated by Israel to build the wall.

As soon as locals and international supporters arrived in the part of the village where Israel is building the wall, soldiers showered them with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets; also firing live rounds of ammunition. Also, soldiers invaded the village and shot tear gas after the protesters returned back to their homes.

13 people where injured. Among them was a local youth who has been taken to a hospital in the city of Ramallah after soldiers shot him in the leg with live ammunition. The remaining injured were treated locally. Dozens were treated for gas inhalation.

Also near Ramallah, the residents of Bil'in village, marched towards the wall today after Friday prayers. The protest was joined by Israeli and international activists.

Protesters made banners condemning Israel’s ongoing policies and violence against civilians, especially in Jerusalem and commemorating what the Palestinians call the Land Day. The protest began in the center of the village then headed towards the Apartheid Wall which is built on Bil'in's land.

An Israeli army unit stationed behind the wall prevented the crowd from going through the gate. The army fired tear gas canisters to break up the crowd. Four were injured, while dozens suffered gas inhalation. Amongst those injured was a journalist.

Bethlehem

Meanwhile On Friday, more than one hundred Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators gathered at al-Ma'sara, a village near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.
The villagers along with there international and Israeli supporters, marched towards the village lands where Israel is building the wall. Soldiers stopped the people and attacked them with rifle buts and batons. Witnesses said that four sustained moderate wounds. Amongst those injured was a journalist working for Ruters.

For IMEMC .org this is George Rishmawi

The Political report

Representatives of Palestinian factions are expected to return to Cairo by next week in a bid to resume their national unity talks. Also this week, Palestinian and Israeli sources confirmed the possibility of reaching a prisoner swap agreement. IMEMC's Jessica Hulsey reports:

This week, representatives of the rival Hamas and Fatah parties said that the second round of their national unity talks would resume by early April. Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas said he was hopeful that the upcoming round of talks would lead to a consensus over some outstanding issues such as the political agenda of a unity government and reformation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Omar Suleiman, chief of Egyptian intelligence, who has been mediating the talks, returned back last week from Washington, where he explored the U.S stance on a unified Palestinian government that could emerge from current talks.

Washington has ostensibly announced it would not back a government that does not meet three international demands; recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and accepting past-signed peace agreements with Israel, a matter that Hamas still refuses.

Meanwhile, political analysts believed that the success or failure of an upcoming regular Arab states summit meeting in Doha,, would overshadow talks between Fatah and Hamas.

As for a separate issue, Palestinian and Israeli sources confirmed this week, that Egyptian-brokered talks over a prisoner swap between Israel and the ruling Hamas party, will be resumed shortly.

Israeli media sources reported that a number of Egyptian officials in charge of the talks between Fatah and Hamas, were in meetings in Tel-Aviv with Israeli officials.

Hamas, which has been holding an Israeli soldier since June of 2006, has demanded the release of some hundred Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. While Israel has objected to Hamas's list and has recently demanded that at least 20 of the would-be released prisoners be exiled.


For IMEMC.org this is Jessica Hulsey


The Gaza Repot

As the Israeli army continued to attack the Gaza Strip, the number of Palestinian patients who died in the continued Israeli siege on the Costal region has reached 312. From Gaza IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari Reports:

On Friday morning, Israeli soldiers stationed on the eastern side of the southern part of the Gaza Strip, opened fire at civilian homes and agricultural lands; damage was reported but there were no injuries. Such attacks were reported all week.

Fighters from Saray Alquds brigade, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, clashed with Israeli soldiers near the border fence with Israel in the southern Gaza Strip. The Saraya Alquds brigades claimed that their fighters clashed with an undercover Israeli military unit, patrolling the border area in the southeastern part of the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, on Thursday midday.

Local sources reported on Wednesday morning, the Israeli Navy attacked a Palestinian fishing boat, kidnapped the four fishermen who were onboard, and took over the boat. The fishermen, three brothers and a relative were taken to an unknown destination. They were fishing in Palestinian territorial waters near Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, witnesses said.

Locals say the Israeli Navy frequently attacks fishermen and shell Palestinian fishing boats. They have wounded and kidnapped dozens of fishermen before. Earlier this week, a young Palestinian fisherman was shot and seriously wounded when the Israeli navy shelled an area north-east of Gaza City.

Also this week, The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the number of patients who died due to the 21-month long Israeli siege on Gaza have reached 312. The ministry says that due to the siege, in March alone, 21 patients died; among them five children.

On Sunday, three patients died in Gaza hospitals after being barred from leaving the area for medical treatment abroad. Meanwhile, a Palestinian woman was reported dead on Tuesday after the Israeli military barred her from leaving Gaza for medical care.

Doctors in Gaza report that 1000 Palestinian patients have all the necessary documents to leave Gaza but Israel still refuses to allow them to travel thus endangering their lives.

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



The West Bank report

This week the Israeli military conducted at least 36 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During those attacks, troops kidnapped 26 Palestinian civilians. Meanwhile, Israeli police attacked cultural events in Jerusalem, IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura has the story:

A teenage Palestinian was shot and wounded late on Tuesday at night at the Huwwara roadblock, south of the northern West Bank City of Nablus. Locals reported that Israeli soldiers shot and injured the teenager, and then asked Palestinian medics to transfer him to a local hospital in the city. As the Palestinian ambulance rushed to the scene, Israeli soldiers stopped it, barring the medics from reaching the wounded teenager. Later on, the army called an Israeli ambulance and transferred him to an Israeli hospital.

On Monday afternoon, during a crackdown by Israeli police forces on an activity organized in East Jerusalem celebrating "Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture 2009", five were injured and eight kidnapped. Local organizer Rima Awwad was there when the Israeli police attacked:



The event, "Jerusalem: The Capital of Arab Culture 2009", began Saturday in the nearby city of Bethlehem. The Israeli Ministry of Interior announced on Friday that it would stop the Arab cultural event from taking place in Jerusalem and arrest anyone who took part in it.

The Israeli authorities refused to allow the scheduled program of events to be held in Jerusalem, but a pre-recorded program of events was shown VIA satellite in the Conference Palace of Bethlehem. Other similar events took place in Lebanon, Gaza and Nazareth, which was linked to the main even in Bethlehem via satellite.

Jerusalem follows Damascus as the "capital of Arab culture", a title that has been handed to a different city by the Arab League every year since 1996. During his opening speech at the event on Saturday, the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas criticized Israel's policies in Jerusalem:



“The policies of discrimination, oppression and destruction of neighborhoods and homes, must all stop for peace to have a chance in this land."

This week, an Israeli court in Jerusalem issued an eviction order for the As-Silwadi family, telling them to leave their home and the dunnum of land around it after the defense lawyer failed to present documents for the case.

The Israeli government has intensified its demolition campaign of Palestinian-owned homes. The Jerusalem municipality handed out demolition orders to 176 Palestinian families in March alone. While another 88 orders were handed out in February. Since Israel occupied the city of Jerusalem in 1967, the authorities have rarely given Palestinian residents permission to build homes.

In related news, on Tuesday, the Israeli police attacked residents and local community leaders in the Arab town of Um Al Fahem in northern Israel, injuring eight civilians including one critically. The police attack came after local residents tried to stop Israeli right wing groups from conducting a march into the Arab town, a move that is seen by the local community as provocative.

For IMEMC.org this is Ghassan Bannoura.


Conclusion

And that's 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 Dina Awwad.