This Week in Palestine, Week 45

Israeli Armed troops have raided different areas of Gaza Strip. These are the first attacks since a cease fire began 5 months ago. 7 Palestinian were killed during theses attacks, threatening to break down the efforts to renew the cease fire treaty and heating the borders of Gaza. These stories and more are coming up, stay tuned.


Nonviolent

Let us begin our weekly report as usual with the nonviolent actions in the West Bank where Palestinians continue to demonstrate against the apartheid wall being built on their land.
The details with IMEMC's this is Patricia Daugherty

Bethlehem
Dozens of participated in a nonviolent demonstration today against the apartheid wall at Al Me’sara. The Palestinians in the demonstration condemned the policies of the occupation
The march was also in memory of Yassar Arrafat, who died four years ago.

A number of internationals also joined the demonstration. They stood against the Israeli soldiers who stopped the demonstration from moving toward the main road. Some violence occurred and there were some minor injuries to demonstrators.
Mohammad Brejieh reported


Bil’in

The people in Bil’in village today remembered the fourth anniversary of the death of Yassar Arrafat with a huge demonstration that included both Israelis and internationals
The minister of public transportation and logistics, Dr. Mashrur Abu Dukka was also present.

The people raised Palestinian flags and pictures of Yassar Arrafat while they moved from the village streets toward the apartheid wall. They were shouting and chanting in memory of the Palestinian leader, condemning the occupation, the wall, illegal settlements and the government policies against Palestinians.

When the demonstration reached the gate of the segregation wall they tried to pass through to reach the village lands located behind the wall, land that has been confiscated
from the people of Bil’in

The soldiers reacted to the non-violent demonstration by shooting rubber coated metal bullets, heavy use of tear gas, and concussion grenades. Many demonstrators were affected by the tear gas, experiencing choking and breathing difficulty.


Ni’lin

A Danish woman volunteer was injured in a demonstration in Ni’lin
The Danish woman sustained a burn on the arm today while the Israeli occupation force was stopping a peaceful march against the wall in Ni’lin village.

The ISM reported that the Israeli military used rubber coated metal bullets against a peaceful march in Ni’lin. Anna Johnson, 24 yrs old from Copenhagen, was shot with tear gas, causing a burn on the upper part of her arm. Johnson was transferred to Sheik Zaid Hospital in Ramallah for treatment. The ISM stated that the Israeli forces shot the rubber coated metal bullets and the tear gas directly at the demonstrators at close range.

For IMEMC’s this is Patricia Daugherty



Political

LEDE: U.S Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said in a meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Tsibi Livni, that the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations are serious but she doubts reaching a solution soon. Meanwhile, Palestinian factions are willing to engage in a serious national unity dialogue soon. More with IMEMC's Judith Carison


The outgoing U.S administration seems unlikely to reach its goal towards a two-state solution between Palestinians and Israelis by the end of this year, as U.S Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice said this week that a chance for that is nearing the Zero sum.

Meanwhile, top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Eriqat, dismissed the possibility of reaching a solution soon as Israel is heading towards early elections, for which the opposition Israeli camp vowed no concessions for real peace with the Palestinians.

For other news, the ruling Hamas party in Gaza has warned of the collapse of a current ceasefire deal with Israel that Egypt brokered in June of 2008.

Fawzi Barhoum is a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza:

Actuality (In English):

"This shape of programmed violence and programmed terrorism against the Palestinians gave us the right to reevaluate the calm by contacting with Egypt and all Palestinian parties in order to guide all of these Palestinian efforts towards the support of our rights and interests and toward giving us the right to continue our resistance against the occupation."

On the internal level, rival Palestinian factions in Gaza and the West Bank are prepared to head for Cairo early next week, to attend a Cairo-hosted national unity conference, aimed at ending the current Palestinian division.

The expected talks are to come out with a national unity government that ends an internationally-enforced boycott and a crippling Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, that has been in place since June of 2007.

However, some Palestinian parties doubted success of such a dialogue, as deputy-secretary general of the Islamic Jihad group, Ziyad Alnakhalla, was reported saying that such a dialogue faces many difficulties.

The ruling Hamas party in Gaza announced some reservations to the Cairo-presented document, while Cairo declared it would not accept any reservations to such a document, urging all Palestinian factions to bring about change.

Also, next Sunday, Egypt will host a meeting for the Quartet Committee for Middle East peace. Members of the Quartet include the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia. Discussions will center around the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

Israeli foreign minister and chairwoman of the Israeli ruling Kadima party, Tsibi Livni, believes that prior to such a meeting, Israel should be involved in serious negotiations with the Palestinians.

For IMEMC 's Judith Carison


West Bank

LEAD This week, the Israeli online daily newspaper, Haaretz, published footage of Israeli soldiers humiliating a Palestinian resident. Meanwhile, Israeli military attacks on the West Bank continue. More with IMEMC's Jessica Husley in the West Bank

According to Haaretz, the Israeli online newspaper, this week, Israeli infantry soldiers humiliated a Palestinian resident on a roadblock in the West Bank. The soldiers ordered residents who were handcuffed and blindfolded to repeat insults from the soldiers.

Meanwhile, this week, Israeli troops carried out a series of attacks on Palestinian areas in the occupied West Bank and occupied east Jerusalem, rounding up dozens of Palestinians.

The attacks included invasions into the Alfar'a and Arroub refugee camps as well as Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Nablus.

Also, this week, the Israeli military demolished two Palestinian homes and a wedding hall in the occupied east Jerusalem, wounding at least 12 residents and arresting several others, after local Palestinians defied the Israeli demolitions.

Earlier, the European Union slammed the Israeli policy for resuming demolitions across the occupied West Bank.

In the meantime, armed Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian residents in a number of West Bank areas including the city of Hebron.

Settlers in Hebron, were reported setting a Palestinian flag into flames and threatening the nearby Palestinian residents if they raised the flag again.

Palestinian Prime Minister of the Ramallah-based government, Salam Fayyad, called on the upcoming meeting of the Quartet Committee for Middle East peace. The meetings will take place in Egypt this Sunday, November 9th. The Quartet is composed of the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union. The two sides remain divided on the core issues of the conflict, including the future status of Jerusalem, the fate of some 4.6 million Palestinian refugees and continuing Israeli settlement activity on occupied land.
The Quartet has come under criticism from aid agencies, which warned last month that it was "losing its grip" on the peace process and must radically revise its approach.
For IMEMC's This is Jessica Hulsey


Gaza

LEDE: This week in Gaza, despite a ceasefire, Israeli attacks claimed the lives of several Palestinians including resistance fighters. Meanwhile, Gaza is set to welcome one more batch of solidarity campaigners via Gaza's sea. The details from Gaza with IMEMC’s Rami Al-Meghari.

This week saw a series of Israeli military attacks on the coastal region, despite a five-month-long ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions.

The attacks by land and air claimed the lives of 6 Palestinian fighters of the ruling Hamas party, a seventh form the Islamic Jihad group and an eight civilian farmer.

Israeli army spokesman said the attacks were intended to stop a plot by Palestinians to abduct soldiers through an underground tunnel. He also said that the army demolished two homes in the central part of the Gaza Strip.

The armies actions also caused several Palestinian residents to be injured, including a woman, as the Palestinian resistance factions responded with firing scores of homemade shells into nearby Israeli areas.

Israeli media sources said the shells wounded three Israeli soldiers near a military base in southern Israel and two other residents in Ashkelon, 12 kilometers away from Gaza.

Israeli government spokesman confirmed Israel's willingness to keep the ceasefire deal, brokered by Egypt in June of this year.

Resistance factions in Gaza considered the Israeli actions an end to the truce. Mohammad Albaba is a spokesperson of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza.

Actuality (In Arabic)
"Of course, this is something we can not keep silent about or be tolerant of at any rate, the view is that the truce, which was agreed upon by all, must go to hell now".

In the meantime, Gaza is set to welcome one more group of solidarity campaigners via Gaza shores. The new Free Gaza Boat has on board a number of EU lawmakers, who are coming to Gaza to support the besieged population since June of last year.

In other news from Gaza, more than 3500 Palestinian travelers managed to cross into Egypt this week after the Egyptian authorities reopened the Rafah crossing terminal.

The Rafah terminal is the sole outlet to the outside world for Gaza's 1.5 million residents as Israel continues to strictly close all of Gaza’s crossings that share a border with Israel.

For IMEMC's Rami Almeghari in Gaza

And that was just some of the news this week in Palestine. For constant update check out our website, www.IMEMC.org. Thanks for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. This week's report has been brought to you by Hussam Qassis and Patricia Daugherty good bye.