The Israeli government passes a motion to further restrict fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip while army kill 13 Palestinians this week in the costal region, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

Nonviolent Resistance in West Bank

Let's begin our weekly report with the nonviolent actions in Bethlehem and Ramallah. IMEMC's Manar Jebreen with the details:

On Friday morning Palestinian and international peace activists gathered near the village of Umm Salamunah, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. They took part in a protest against the construction of the Israeli Segregation Wall and the confiscation of village land.

The protesters, a group of about 50 people, surprised the Israeli army by gathering at Umm Salamuna instead of the nearby village of Wad An Nis. As a result, when they arrived at the construction site, there were no soldiers and unsuspecting building workers were busy with excavations for the continuation of a road which will later become the route for the illegal wall.

Building work ceased when the protesters appeared and the army was called. Soon seven military vehicles and about 40 soldiers arrived and demanded that the protesters, who had sat down, leave the area as it had been declared a military security zone. When they refused they were told they would be arrested and were then manhandled to the side of the construction site.

In the weekly protest in Bil'in village near Ramallah on Friday at least four nonviolent activists were wounded in the nonviolent anti-wall demonstration. A number of International and Israeli peace activists joined the villagers of Bilin in their weekly protest carrying banners condemning the harassment of the Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli police.

Protestors walked through the streets of the town and attempted to go to the olive orchards behind the annexation wall. However, they were stopped by the Israeli soldiers who placed barricades on the way to prevent the villagers from reaching their olive trees. As the protestors attempted to walk through, troops fired several gas and sound bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets at them wounding four.

An Italian journalist, identified as Antonio, was moderately wounded when he was shot in the head by a rubber coated metal bullet. Antonio was with a group called Pax Christi who came from Italy to tour the Palestinian areas, meet Palestinians and join them in their nonviolent struggle.

For IMEMC.org this Manar Jbreen.


Political report

In Political developments this week, the Israeli government passes a motion to further restrict fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip. Elsewhere, officials with the Palestinian Authority express exasperation with perceived Israeli intransigence in peace negotiations. IMEMC's John Smith has more.

Several unnamed Israeli officials on Thursday warned Israeli media of the potential consequences of cutting the Gaza Strip's power supply, arguing that such a move could lead to a shot-term escalation in the launching of missiles from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory.

Meanwhile, Chief Palestinian Negotiator Sa'eb Erekat on Thursday called on the international community to intervene in the situation and prevent Israel from carrying out its decision to further restrict supplies, branding the move both illegal and provocative.

It is widely expected that the Israeli government will limit or completely cut the Gaza Strip's electricity supplies in the coming days after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the plan late on Thursday. Residents of Gaza have had no choice but to rely on Israeli electricity after Israeli war planes destroyed the region's two main power stations in 2006.

In a meeting with World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Roni Bar-On urged the body to cease all projects in the Gaza Strip and urged the international community to support Israel in its policy of isolating the region.

Yaser Abed Rabo, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee, revealed on Monday that indirect talks between Hamas and Israel had been reinitiated through a third party. The senior PLO member said that Hamas is hoping, by such dialogue, to show a capability to preserve the so-called ‘security of Israel’, in order to remain in power. Israeli officials later denied that any such contact had been established.

In a similar vein, the former head of the Shin bet, and current Minister without Portfolio, Ami Ayalon, on Wednesday called on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to invite the Hamas movement to the upcoming Annapolis peace summit, the aim being to generate a level of internal conflict that would destroy the movement from within.

In other Gaza developments, a Jordanian news network reported Tuesday that the deposed Hamas government had signed an agreement with Egyptian security officials to bring an end to the smuggling of weapons through tunnels in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip, adding that the accord was signed under the understanding that Palestinians would be allowed access to Egypt for educational and medical purposes.

IMEMC spoke with Khalil Abu Leila, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, who denied the accuracy of the report, stating that Hamas would continue to resist until the Israeli occupation fell.



"This report is untrue, we are a nation under occupation, we need any weapons that we can have to defend ourselves, therefore the al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas has the right and duty to find weapons. Hamas will not make such agreement because it damages the Palestinian national cause".

In other news, the implementation of the first phase of the U.S-backed Road Map should be viewed as a precondition for final status negotiations, both Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak stated Wednesday.


At a conference attended by Israel and the North Atlantic Alliance, Livni stated that while the current Palestinian leadership is "realistic and responsible" towards its own people, it needs more time and effort to take control over law and order, a view shared by US Security Coordinator General Dayton, who on Thursday argued that PA forces were not ready to assume control over Palestinian cities.

Despite such pronouncements of progress, PA spokesperson Nabil Abu Rodeina on Sunday branded the Israeli position on issues such as continued settlement activity as "disruptive" to the course of the upcoming Annapolis conference. Abu Rodeina's comments came days after a number of Israeli MKs threatened to withdraw from the current coalition government after details of a so-called "murder plot" against Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were released.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet in Jerusalem on Friday to discuss progress in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. According to senior officials, the private pre-summit meeting will aim to resolve some of the issues raised at earlier negotiations.


Nimir Hammad, President Abbas' advisor, on Tursday expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of such talks, stating that only two meetings have been held in the last three weeks, during which no progress was made. Hammad branded the Israeli attitude as "unacceptable," arguing that the state should be held responsible for failing to live up to commitments made to both the Palestinian negotiating team and American officials alike.

Wednesday saw thousands of Israelis commemorate the 12th anniversary of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. Rabin, like Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres, won a Nobel Peace Prize for his asserted efforts in formulating the Oslo accords. Rabin was assassinated at a mass rally in Tel Aviv on November 4, 1995, by Yigal Amir, a right-wing Israeli terrorist who vehemently opposed the Oslo accords.

For IMEMC.org, this is John Smith


The Israeli attacks

The West Bank

This week the Israeli army conducted at least 27 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During those invasions Israeli troops kidnapped at least 37 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children. IMEMC Colin Bill with details:

This week the number of Palestinians kidnapped by the Israeli army in the West Bank since the beginning of this year has mounted to 2,183, with kidnappings this week centering on Hebron, Bethlehem, Nablus, and Jenin.

Two Islamic Jihad members, a senior leader and his assistant, were killed by Israeli gunfire in the northern West Bank city of Jenin in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Security sources later identified the men as Mohammad Jawabra, and Khaled Abu Saqer. The men were killed on a farm on the outskirts of the city.

Zein Mare'y, aged eight-years-old, on Monday morning died of wounds sustained during an Israeli army invasion of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem last Friday night. The girl was injured when invading forces apparently randomly opened fire, shooting the child in the head as she stood by a park in the south of the city.

On Tuesday morning, a contingent of Israeli Special Forces damaged the Sarafand Mosque, confiscating artifacts during the process. Israeli bulldozers also destroyed the road in front of the mosque.

In a statement to the press, the al-Aqsa organization reported that the attack on the mosque follows a month of consecutive daily prayers by Palestinian Muslims on the ruins of Sarafand mosque, which was destroyed by Israeli forces in 2000.

A group of religious extremists on Wednesday morning set fire to a Christian Church located in the occupied city of Jerusalem. The church sustained severe damage in the blaze. The church was previously burned down in 1982 by a group of Jewish extremists. No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.


For IMEMC.org this Colin Bill.


The Gaza strip

The Israeli army continued to pound the Gaza strip this week, killing at least 13 Palestinians in several attacks on the costal region. From Gaza, IMEMC's Rami Al Mughari has more:

One Palestinian was killed, and another four injured, as the Israeli military shelled a neighborhood of Gaza city on Friday morning. Local sources reported that an Israeli military jet opened fire on a group of Palestinians, killing Mohammad Hasnounah, 22, and injuring other four others. Hasnounah is the fourth Palestinian to be killed by Israeli forces on Friday.

Three Palestinian resistance fighters were killed, and two Israeli soldiers injured, as Israeli forces invaded the northern and southern Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday morning. In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, eyewitnesses reported that an undercover Israeli force invaded an area east of the town, and exchanged fire with local resistance fighters. Two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded in clashes.

In a separate incident, a further al-Quds Brigades fighter was killed by invading Israeli troops near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.

Palestinian sources on Thursday stated that four Palestinians were killed in several parts of the Gaza strip due to Israeli attacks on the costal region.

Medical sources in southern Gaza reported that two members of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, were killed on Thursday morning by gunfire from Israeli Special Forces in the Abasan area of eastern Khan Younis.

Later in the day, the Al-Quds brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, stated that two of its resistance fighters were killed on Thursday. The statement said that the two men were killed while fighting with Israeli Special Forces near the site of an evacuated Israeli settlement in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday night, two Palestinian children were killed when Israeli tanks shelled the northern part of the costal region.

An Israeli missile on Tuesday killed Salah Eldin Hassanat, a senior member of the Salaheldin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, and a member of the deposed Hamas government, as he drove along the central Gaza coastal road.

The Israeli navy on Saturday evening killed two Palestinians after launching a number of missiles in the vicinity of Gaza beach. The two men were later identified as Raed Shamlakh, 22, and Nizar Abu Arab, 22. Palestinian sources reported that the two were working as lifeguards along the beach.

For IMEMC.org this Rami Al Mughari in Gaza.


Civil unrest

Gaza experienced a fresh wave of internal violence this week, with one adult and one child killed in inter-factional clashes. IMEMC's Jane Sahouri has more:

Palestinian sources reported that a child and an adult were killed on Saturday when renewed internal clashes broke out in the Gaza Strip. Fighting erupted between the Hamas-allied Palestinian security forces and members of the Fatah-affiliated Hillis family in the al-Shuja'yah neighborhood of the southern Gaza strip.

Iyhab Al Ghussein, spokesperson for the deposed Palestinian Interior Ministry, promised that security forces would do everything in their power to contain the violence, adding that the Hillis family had fired on members of the security forces first.

Previous to the ceasefire announcement, the infighting had spread to several parts of the costal region.

Hamas media sources reported that one Palestinian police officer died on Thursday night of wounds sustained during clashes with gunmen east of Gaza City last week.

The sources identified the policeman as Ahmad Abu Ni’ma, 19. He was seriously injured on Wednesday, October 17 in clashes with gunmen identified as members of the Hillis family.

The Hamas movement this week stated that Fatah-affiliated security forces had continued to detain Hamas members across the West Bank, with over 40 arrests made in the Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, and Tulkarem areas.

For IMEMC.org this 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 Louisa White and Ghassan Bannoura.