This Week in Palestine -Week 19 2009

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to declare a broad West Bank-based government soon, while Israeli military attacks on Gaza this week have left one person killed and at least 10 injured. These stories and more coming up stay tuned.

Nonviolent Activities

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

Ramallah

On Friday, Palestinian, Israeli, and international protesters marched in the weekly demonstration held by Bil'in village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

Protesters carried banners that read, “Stop the Occupation ‘Flu” and called on international health and human rights institutions to intervene, in order to save the Palestinian people from this dangerous “disease”, spreading through the region and is threatening the safety of the rest of the world.

The Israeli military responded to the demonstration by shooting teargas and rubber-coated steel bullets into the crowd, causing eight injuries and dozens of cases of teargas inhalation. Three injuries were caused by rubber-coated steel bullets.

Also near Ramallah on Friday, Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian and international peace activists holding the weekly non-violent protest against the Wall in Ni’lin village. Five protestors were injured and dozens were treated for the effects of gas inhalation.

The protesters marched in three groups. The first group was stopped by the soldiers in the village center, while the second group was attacked by soldiers on the outskirts of the village. Soldiers took positions on rooftops of local homes, witnesses said. The third group, however, managed to reach the Israeli wall and were attempting to dismantle the internationally-condemned structure, when protesters were attacked by Israeli troops. Local youths clashed with the soldiers at the three locations after the protest ended.

Bethlehem

Palestinian, Israeli, and international protesters conducted a nonviolent protest on Friday in Al Ma’ssara village near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. Israeli soldiers stopped the protest inside the village before the protestors could reach the location of the wall. Four residents were lightly wounded when Israeli soldiers used batons to stop people from reaching their agricultural land. Local sources said that two international supporters were kidnapped by the Israeli military during the protest.

Hebron

Eleven nonviolent protestors were detained and several others were injured during a nonviolent protest against Israeli settlements and outposts in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Friday morning.

Eight Israelis, two internationals and one Palestinian were arrested by Israeli troops and police. The protest was organized by the "Youth Gathering against Settlements" in Hebron, and was supported by both international and Israeli peace activists. The organizers had planned to build a temporary building opposite to the illegal wooden shack built by Israeli settlers in the Bweira district, near Hebron.

Although the land is owned by Palestinians from Hebron, Israeli settlers have illegally erected the small building. The settlers assaulted the protesters with batons and stones, and attempted to forcibly remove the building constructed by the protestors, which caused some friction. Israeli troops and police reinforced the settlers and forced all Palestinians, internationals and Israeli activists out of the area.


For IMEMC.org, this is Katharine Orwell

The Political report

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to declare a broad West Bank-based government soon, as national unity talks between the Hamas and Fatah parties have yet to make tangible progress. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be meeting US President Barack Obama to discuss peace with the Palestinians. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura has the story:

A Palestinian government in the West Bank will be soon declared in Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated in Cairo this week, following a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak.

Abbas told reporters that his intention to form a new government had nothing to do with ongoing dialogue with the ruling Hamas party in Gaza. Abbas also stated that if a unity government were to emerge from dialogue between the internecine rivals, new talks between the parties would begin.

The western-endorsed Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, is expected to chair the new cabinet. One month ago, Fayyad submitted his resignation, in order to pave the way for the establishment of a unity coalition government, but his resignation was rejected by President Abbas.

The United States and some western governments have announced that any Palestinian unity government that does not meet international demands will not be granted recognition.

Renouncing violence, recognizing Israel and accepting past peace agreements signed with Israel have been at the core of Hamas-Fatah unity talks in Cairo. Hamas wants a government without preconditions, while Fatah insists that the international demands be met, so that the international community would recognize a power-sharing government.

Meanwhile, Hamas's political leader in exile, Khaled Mash'al, stated in a New York Times interview that his party does not object to a long-term truce with Israel, in return for a peace deal based on the 1967 borders.

As Palestinian-Israeli peace talks have not yet achieved any progress, Tony Blair, the envoy of the international Quartet, who is based in Jerusalem, this week urged both Israelis and Palestinians to address contentious issues like the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees.

Such a statement comes in the context of an Israeli government plan to formulate an economic-based peace plan, to be submitted to US President Barack Obama later this month.

The plan allows for economic development across the occupied Palestinian territories, within limited autonomy rule for the Palestinians, with Israeli settlements remaining on Palestinian land. For the past several years, consecutive American governments have demanded Israel halts settlement activities on occupied lands, to give a chance for peace in the region, yet Israel has repeatedly rejected international demands.

For IMEMC.org this is Ghassan Bannoura.

The Gaza Repot

Israeli military attacks on Gaza this week have left one person killed and at least 10 injured. From the Strip, IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari reports:

Palestinian medial sources reported on Saturday that medics and rescue teams located the bodies of two Palestinians under the rubble of a tunnel that had been shelled by the Israeli air force earlier on Saturday. Also on Saturday, the army shelled several areas in the Gaza Strip and bulldozed farmland. On Saturday morning, medical sources said that five Palestinians were injured when the Israeli air force shelled close to the border in the southern Gaza Strip.

The air force carried out three consecutive strikes against the area, injuring a number of residents, including five who were treated at the Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah. As rescue teams continued to search under the rubble, they located the bodies of two residents under the rubble of a shelled tunnel. The Israeli air force shelled the two tunnels in the Rafah area last Friday night.

On Monday, Palestinian medical sources reported that one resident was moderately wounded after the Israeli army shot artillery shells into agricultural lands east of Gaza City.

On Wednesday night, five Palestinians were injured in two Israeli air strikes against the area where tunnels have been previously discovered on the southern border, between Rafah and Egypt.

The Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, stated on Thursday that one of its members had been killed on Wednesday evening during what the brigades described as a “special mission”. In its statement, the brigades revealed that Tal’at al-Afify and three other members of the armed group were “on a mission” when contact with them was lost. Three of the men are still missing. The Israeli army has not commented on the report.

In other news, one woman, identified as Randa Shalloufa, 35, was shot and wounded by military fire as she was working on her land near the defunct Rafah International Airport, in the southern Gaza Strip.

At midday on Thursday, Israeli naval forces kidnapped fishermen from the Gaza Strip while jet fighters shelled open areas of Gaza City.

Local sources reported that five Palestinian fishermen were kidnapped by the Israeli navy. Witnesses reported that troops sunk the fishermen's boat after seizing the five men. Also on Thursday at midday, Israeli jet fighters shelled open areas of Gaza City close to the Israeli border. Local sources reported that the bombs landed in the open, causing material damage but no injuries.

For IMEMC.org this is Rami al Meghari

The West Bank report

This week the Israeli military conducted more than 30 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During the attacks, troops killed one civilian and kidnapped 25 others, including a child. Rosa McCarthy with the story:

Israeli military operations this week were focused in the cities of Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Hebron.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian civilian at the entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron – also known as the tomb of patriarchs. The military claimed the man attempted to take the gun of a soldier, and so the soldier shot him. According to the victim's family, the man suffered from long term mental illness.
This week, the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem Municipality issued further demolition orders to Palestinian home-owners in and around Jerusalem's old city. IMEMC's Ghassan Bannoura has the story:
The Jerusalem municipality states that the homes were built without the required building permits – a claim officials have been repeatedly making when issuing house demolition orders. Hatim Abdul-Qader is Jerusalem Affairs Advisor to the Palestinian Prime Minister. He told IMEMC that home owners appealed the Israeli municipality decision at an Israeli court:

“During the past two days we received an additional 29 demolition orders. We managed to temporarily freeze these orders by appealing to the Israeli court, however this leads us to believe that international political intervention is needed. Certainly this is a clear Israeli attempt to force Palestinians out of the city in a systematic manner.”
Since Israel occupied the city of Jerusalem in 1967, it has rarely given Palestinians living in Jerusalem permission to build. Obtaining a building permit is not easy, explains Mohamed Al Issawi, who owns a house just outside Jerusalem's old city.

“After they approved my permit, they gave me a demolition order because they say I lived in the house before completing all of the requirements, which cost more than the house itself.”
Since the start of this year, Israeli authorities have increased their campaign of demolishing Palestinian homes in the city. The municipality issued demolition orders to 96 Palestinian families during the month of March, with 88 orders previously handed out in February.
For IMEMC.org this is Rosa McCarthy .

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.