In Political news this week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Monday, while the army continue to attack Palestinian areas killing two this week, These stories and more coming up stay tuned.

Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine

Lets begin our weekly report with news of nonviolent action in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem against the wall and settlements.

Bil'in

At midday on Friday the villagers of Bil'in were joined by international and Israeli peace activists in a march to the illegal wall built by the Israelis on village land. Another 100 Palestinians from the West Bank city of Jericho came to Bil'in in support.

The demonstrators chanted slogans calling for Palestinian unity against the Wall and the illegal settlements..

Today's protest is the first since last week's Israeli court ruling which ordered the Israeli army to change the route of the wall near the village.

After more than two years of continuous non-violent struggle, the villagers of Bil'in scored a victory when the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the wall must be re-routed. The re-routing will allow the village to retrieve 275 acres out of a total of 600 cut off by the wall's construction and used to build the illegal settlement of Modi’in.

After a number of speeches from local organizers, the protesters then headed back to the village. As they did so Israeli soldiers showered them with tear-gas and steel-coated rubber bullets. A number of light injuries were reported.

Bethlehem

Israeli troops attacked a nonviolent demonstration in the village of Al Walaja, west of the southern west bank city of Bethlehem, on Friday afternoon. Around 100 Palestinians, internationals and Israeli activists marched with local villagers in protest against the construction of an illegal road on village-owned land.

The road in question was illegally built by the Israeli army several years ago. After the legality of the construction was questioned in an Israeli court, it was ruled illegal. This order was ignored by the Israeli army, who prevented any change from being to the road. After marching to the site of the road, protestors took part in Friday prayers, after which a number of speeches were delivered.

Soon after, a massive number of Israeli troops surrounded the protest, giving it five minutes to disperse. After the allotted time passed, soldiers attacked with batons and sound bombs, and tear gas. Several cases of gas inhalation and light wounds were reported. An IMEMC correspondent said that the soldiers abused him and other local and international journalists.



Political report

In Political news this week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Monday. Both leaders described the meeting as positive.
IMEMC’s John Smith has more:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert met in Jerusalem on Monday, in a meeting that both leaders described as “positive”. Before the event, Palestinian media sources reported that Abbas intended to push his Israeli counterpart to deliver a detailed and comprehensive plan regarding any future agreement of principles. In the aftermath of the meeting, both sides announced that they had appointed so-called negotiating teams for the upcoming US-proposed peace conference
.
Olmert also announced that he intended to make a series of goodwill gestures over the month of Ramadan. While the precise details of these measures have yet to be revealed, Israeli sources indicated that prisoners would not be released before the beginning of the holy month, which started on Thursday. Other than these developments, the two leaders issued a joint statement reiterating their commitment to peace in the region, security, and a future Palestinian state.

Monday’s meeting forms part of a series of recent diplomatic negotiations aimed at agreeing upon a shared framework, the details of which are to be fleshed-out at the upcoming Middle East peace conference, scheduled for November.

Attendees at the conference are expected to include Palestinian, Israeli, US and European officials. Representatives of so-called “moderate” Arab countries are also thought to be on the list of attendees. Despite winning a majority of Palestinian Legislative council seats in last January’s elections, the Hamas movement has been barred from participating in the summit.

Hours after Abbas and Olmert’s meeting, a Palestinian news agency published a document which they claimed to be a draft agreement of principles between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.

In the immediate aftermath of the document’s publication, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat questioned the validity of the document, with both stating that no such agreement existed.

Elsewhere, Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai, threatened that the Orthodox Shas party would leave Olmert’s government if the Israeli administration was to cede control of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound/Temple Mount as part of any future peace deal, and establish a Palestinian state within the civil borders of Jerusalem. In other news, the popularity of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has steadily increased since the rise to power of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to an investigation released Monday.

The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Research, found that 73% of those interviewed opposed Hamas’ seizure of Gaza in June. Of interest also was the number of Palestinians interviewed who demonstrated support for Fatah, stating that were elections to be held they would vote for the movement over Hamas. Were there to be fresh Presidential elections, 59% stated that they would vote for Abbas.

The apparent resurgence of Fatah in the occupied Palestinian territories was mirrored in comments made this week by Mohammed Dahlan, former Fatah strongman in the Gaza Strip, who on Monday called for a referendum in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, adding his belief that most Palestinians would support a peaceful settlement with Israel if given the chance.

Speaking at a conference organized by the International Institute for Strategic studies, a UK-based organization, Dahlan argued that the current split of control in the Palestinian territories should be viewed as an opportunity to further the peace process, rather than a reason to delay any future negotiated settlement.

The deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has proposed that he meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Mecca, Haniyeh’s office stated on Monday. The offer was made during a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdel Aziz.

The latest move to re-establish negotiations between the Hamas and Fatah movements comes as President Abbas visits Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in an effort to ensure Saudi support for the upcoming Middle East Peace Conference. Abbas, who is under international and Israeli pressure to exclude Hamas from any negotiations, has rejected previous Hamas-led efforts to resume relations between the two factions after the rise to power of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli attacks

The West Bank

This week the Israeli army conducted at least 35 military invasions of Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During these invasions, Israeli troops kidnapped 54 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children and one woman. The number of Palestinians kidnapped by the Israeli army in the West Bank since the beginning of this year now stands at 1,931. IMEMC's Louisa White with the details:

On Wednesday the Israeli army issued a military order closing the Ibrahimi Mosque on 5 separate days during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Israeli government claims the move is to allow settlers to celebrate Jewish holidays.

Also On Wednesday morning, the Israeli army imposed a complete siege of Palestinian areas until Sunday because of the Jewish New year Rosh Hashanah.

Bulldozers belonging to the so-called Israeli Civil Administration Office demolished a numbers of tin houses, agricultural structures and a wall on Tuesday afternoon in the Palestinian town of Anata south of Jerusalem.

At least 20 Israeli army vehicles and two bulldozers invaded the northern West Bank city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp in the early hours of Tuesday morning, inuring seven civilians, several of whom were children. After storming the city, the army attacked and searched homes. During the attack, clashes erupted between the invading soldiers and local youths throwing stones. Medical sources in the camp reported that seven were injured, among them two children. All the injuries were caused by either tear gas or rubber-coated steel bullets.

David Sehayek, an officer in the Israeli Border Police, was on Monday sentenced to 20 months on prison for ordering the robbery of several shops in the southern West Bank city of Hebron four years ago. The officer was prosecuted by the Jerusalem District Court after pleading guilty to charges of theft and the abuse of power.

Another member of the Border Police, Ofir Eden, was sentenced to nine months for related charges. The two were ordered to pay compensation of NIS 3,000.

A woman from the Ein Beit El Ma refugee camp, just north of Nablus in then northern part of the West Bank, was injured in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Local sources reported that 15 military vehicles invaded the area, kidnapping two civilians. The woman sustained moderate injuries to her hand when clashes broke out between the invading soldiers and resistance fighters.

For IMEMC.org, this is Louisa White in the West Bank.


The Gaza strip

The Israeli army continued its attack on the costal region this week, leaving two dead and several injured. IMEMC’s Rami Al Mughari has more:

Four Islamic Jihad resistance fighters survived an Israeli aircraft attack in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Two bystanders were wounded. Palestinian medics said that the two wounded locals were evacuated to the Kamal Edwan hospital. No other injuries were reported.

The attack came after the Al-Quds brigades fired two homemade rockets on an Israeli army base in southern Israel on Sunday, injuring several soldiers, most of whom were treated for shock. An Israeli cabinet’s meeting took place to discuss and formulate a response to the attack, but no conclusive decision was reached.

Approximately 12 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian shells fire in the past three years. In the last three months almost 60 Palestinians, many of whom were women and children, have been killed by Israeli attacks.

Four Palestinian residents, including three children, were injured on Tuesday morning after an Israeli rank fired a shell on their house in northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medics and witnesses said the wounded belonged to the family of Abu Elqumsan, identifying them as Nadia, 5, Rewan, 7, Nadine, 17, and Iyad, 21.

Three of the wounded were moderately injured, while the fourth Nadine sustained critical injuries. Witnesses said that their home was also damaged in the attack.

A Palestinian child was shot and killed by the Israeli army near the eastern Gaza-Israel borders on Saturday afternoon. Dr. Mo'awiyah Hasanin, the head of the Palestinian emergency department in the Gaza heath ministry, said that Ramez Helles, 16, was shot and killed near the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Israeli army sources said that troops stationed at the borders identified a Palestinian youth approaching the border and fired in the air to force him to leave. Witnesses and medics said that the child was hit directly with live rounds and died on the spot.

Earlier on Saturday, a fighter from the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of
Hamas, was killed during a resistance operation that targeted an Israeli military site near Gaza city. The Al Qassam brigades issued a press release identifying the man as Nabeel Abed Al A'al.

For IMEMC this is Rami Al Mughari in Gaza.

Internal unrest

The Palestinian Liberation Organization on Sunday called a general strike in protest against the action of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. IMEMC's Jane Sahouri has more.

The PLO on Sunday called a general strike in The Gaza Strip, a call that led to a standstill in many institutions in the region. Among those to obey the strike were schools, hospitals, clinics, courts and legal institutions.

The call to strike came after a showdown last Friday between Hamas forces and followers of the PLO’s factions, after Friday prayers in the coastal region. In clashes following the prayers, the Hamas-affiliated Executive Force wounded dozens and arrested several people. The deposed Palestinian prime mister Ismail Haniyeh this week ordered an investigation into the clashes.

Local sources in Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, reported on Tuesday that the Fatah-affiliated Preventive Security Forces broke into the Tadamon Charitable Society, detained workers, confiscated computers and arrested one employee. The Tadamon Society is one of the main charitable societies operating in Nablus. Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday morning attacked the office of the One Voice Movement in Gaza, searching the building and confiscating property.

One Voice is one of a number of non-government organizations working in the West Bank and Gaza. The Hamas movement reported on Friday that security forces loyal to the Fatah movement arrested Hamas members in the northern part of the West Bank.

For IMEMC.org, this is Jane Sahouri.


Conclusion

And that’s just some of the news this week in Palestine. For constant updates, check out our website, www.IMEMC.org. Thanks for joining us from Occupied Bethlehem, this Colin Paul .