This Week in Palestine -Week 21 2009

This week, Palestinian officials voiced their anger over the Israeli Prime Minister’s remarks on Jerusalem. Also two children die in Gaza due to the ongoing Israeli siege. 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:

Bil'in

Residents of Bil'in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah held their weekly protest against the Israeli separation wall after the midday prayer on Friday. They were joined by international and Israelis activists. Protesters marched towards the wall calling for an end to the occupation and to the construction of the Wall.

The Israeli army had gathered in large numbers behind cement blocks, using razor wire to prevent the crowd from going through the gate to their lands.

The army fired tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd, causing dozens of protestors to suffer gas inhalation. Five were shot with rubber coated steel bullets. The demonstrators responded to the military tear gas by hurling balloons loaded with animal excrement.

Nil'in

Also on Friday, Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian and international peace activists at the weekly non-violent protest against the Wall in the village of Ni'lin.

The protesters were marking the first year of their ongoing struggle against the Israeli wall and settlements being built on the village land. As the demonstrators approached the wall construction site, Israeli troops attacked them with batons, rubber-coated-steel bullets and tear gas.

Eight protestors were injured and dozens were treated for the effects of gas inhalation. Earlier on Friday morning Israeli soldiers had invaded the village, taking up positions on rooftops to try to stop the protestors from leaving the village.

For IMEMC.org this is Katharine Orwell



The Political report

This week, Palestinian officials voiced their anger over Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s remarks that Jerusalem will remain the capital of the state of Israel. Meanwhile, US President Barak Obama called on his White House guest, to take some steps on the path to peace with the Palestinians. IMEMC's Jessica Hulsey has the story:

On Thursday, top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Eriqat, expressed the Palestinian leadership's rejection of the recent remarks by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the status of east Jerusalem. Netanyahu repeated the stereotypical Israeli position that ' Jerusalem was always and will be the united capital of Israel'.

Netanyahu's statement came on the sideline of what Israel considers the annual anniversary of annexation of East Jerusalem. International legitimacy resolutions as well as international law regard Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian territory and should be given back to the Palestinians within a peaceful settlement between Palestinians and Israelis.

In the meantime, U.S president, Barak Obama, urged Netanyahu during his visit to Washington this week , that Israel should take steps towards peace with the Palestinians. The main steps being a halt to settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem where about 500,000 Israeli settlers live on Palestinian-owned lands.

This week, Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, ordered the dismantling of what Israel considers a random settlement post in the West Bank. The Defense Minister denied the action is a result of US requests to freeze settlement activity. The US sees further Israeli expansion as a roadblock to peace in the region.

Khalil Al Tafakji, a Palestinian expert on settlements affairs, says the announcement is all for show



"I do not take much notice to what Barak says because I look at what is happing on the ground. A few days ago they approved a new settlement in the Jordan valley. This is just a Media maneuver… an attempt to escape American pressure and see their reaction."

The Palestinian Authority declared this week the formation of a new enlarged cabinet, headed by the resigned Prime Minister , Salam Fayyad.
The new government includes four female ministers. Ten of the 23 ministers are Fatah members, but there are no representatives of Hamas. The western-backed Dr. Fayyad, had no approval of any Palestinian political group. Nassar Ibraheem, a Palestinian political analyst says the new government marks a failure in the internal Palestinian dialogue:

"this means that the talks between Fatah, Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian parties in Cairo did not accomplish any results, and were are back now to the starting point of two governments, one in the West Bank, and the other in Gaza, and each control their area."
Fatah officials say the new government will not have any effect on the Palestinian internal talks. Fayez Al Saqqa, a Palestinian Parliamentarian from Fatah is quoted saying:


"This government will not stop or boost the internal talks, this government is caretaker one only"
The ruling Hamas party in Gaza refused the new cabinet and believe it to be an obstacle towards underway Palestinian efforts for reconciliation. However, Hamas said it would keep up dialogue with Fatah’s Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas until an agreement is reached.

Mosheer Almasri is a spokesperson for Hamas in Gaza.



" this is a proof that Abu Mazen and his team are not serious towards the dialogue, nevertheless, Hamas will be keeping up such a dialogue until we hopefully reach an agreement that is based on the Palestinian inalienable rights as well as commitment to the resistance agenda".

Last week, representatives of both Hamas and Fatah failed to achieve progress in their fifth round of Cairo-hosted dialogue. They agreed to meet by July for a follow-up, as Egyptian mediators insisted on achieving success.

The main obstacle that faces an agreement is the disparity between the political agendas for both sides. Hamas doesn’t want to recognize Israel before Israel ends the occupation of the West Bank and lifts the blockade enforced on Gaza. At the same time, Fatah wants a government that honors previously-signed peace accords with Israel, which had already recognized Israel's 'right to exist'.


For IMEMC.org this is Jessica Hulsey.


The Gaza Strip Report

Two children died in Gaza this week due to the ongoing Israeli siege. From Gaza IMEMC's Rami Al Meghari reports:

A ten-year old child with cancer has died in the Gaza Strip while awaiting Israeli government permission to cross the border to reach a scheduled appointment with a specialist inside Israel.

Ribhi Jindiyeh underwent chemotherapy last year. In March his condition worsened. Ribhi's father applied to the Augusta Victoria hospital in Jerusalem for treatment for his son. The child was accepted into a treatment program in the Israeli hospital, but the Israeli government refused to issue the boy the required permit to cross the closed border into Israel.

On Tuesday a 1-year old boy died of cancer at a local hospital in Rafah. He was unable to receive life-saving treatment outside of the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli siege.

Even though Gaza physicians have successfully dealt with similar cases before, the Ministry of the Interior in Gaza reported that the lack of medical equipment led to the death of the child. Over 300 patients have died since June 2007, when the elected Hamas government began its administration in Gaza and the Israeli government implemented a full closure on the Strip.

Virtually no one has been able to enter or leave the besieged coastal Strip, and supplies of needed medicines and equipment are rapidly dwindling in Gaza's hospitals and clinics.

Several residents were wounded in a series of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip carried out by the Israeli air force. The attacks happened shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning and targeted several neighborhoods in Gaza City, Jabalia and Rafah. The airstrikes were aimed at blacksmiths’ workshops, residential areas, and farm lands.

Six Palestinian workers were injured on Thursday afternoon when the Egyptian military bombed a tunnel on the Egyptian-Gaza border. Sources in Gaza reported that the workers sustained moderate wounds and were moved to a hospital in Rafah city for treatment. Since Israel sealed-off the Coastal Strip in June 2007, the tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Egypt have become the main source of supplies to Gaza.

On Friday morning the Israeli army reported that its soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians near the Kerem Shalom Crossing, also known as the Karem Abu Salem Crossing, in the Gaza Strip.

For IMEMC.org this Rami Al Meghari in Gaza.


The West Bank Report

This week the Israeli army conducted more than 20 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During the attacks, troops kidnapped at least 35 civilians. Rosa McCarthy with the story:

On Thursday, two Israeli soldiers were wounded in armed clashes with Palestinian fighters in Qalqilia in the northern part of the West Bank. Furthermore, the army claimed that one Palestinian policeman was wounded during a gun battle with Israeli troops that were invading Qalqilia.

Later on Thursday, near the city of Salfit in the northern West Bank, Israeli settlers who are backed by the military, uprooted olive trees that belong to Palestinian farmers.

Farmers reported that troops and settlers came to their land, forced them away and uprooted their trees. The army declared the area a closed military zone and told famers they are not allowed back onto their land.

A Palestinian child was injured on Wednesday night when an Israeli settler ran into the child with their car in the Old City of Hebron.

Local sources said Jaliyah Mos'ab, three years old, sustained moderate wounds and was admitted to a local hospital. Witnesses said that the settler hit the child intentionally and tried to flee the scene but was held by local residents. This was the second such attack by settlers this week. On Sunday settlers rammed a Palestinian boy in the same area and managed to flee the scene.

On Tuesday, two Palestinian workers sustained moderate wounds when soldiers manning a checkpoint near Hebron shot them. Local sources said the two workers were returning from the Negev where they work.

Also on Tuesday, armed settlers attacked Palestinian famers who were working on their land in areas located between the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Qalqilia. The famers said that the settlers attacked them with batons and rifle butts, injuring a number of them.

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 Lisa Smith and Ghassan Bannoura.