Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

This Week in Palestine -Week 46 2009

Audio Dept. | 13.11.2009 18:35 | Palestine | World


Welcome to This Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for November 7th to the 13th, 2009

This Week in Palestine -Week 46 2009 - mp3 10M



This week the Israeli military conducted at least 28 invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and shelled areas in Gaza. Also, this week, the Palestinian elections committee said it cannot prepare for the upcoming elections in January of 2010. 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 Zak Brophy:

Scores of people suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation on Friday, among them Mohamed Baraka, an Arab member of the Israeli Parliament, during the weekly protest against the wall at the village of Bil'in central West Bank.

Residents of the village, along with their international and Israeli supporters, gathered at the village center after the midday prayers. Local organizers welcomed visiting groups such as Baraka.

Later on people marched towards the gate of the wall separating farmers from their lands. As soon as protesters arrived Israeli troops fired tear gas at them. This week the protesters commemorated the 5th anniversary of the death of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Also in central West Bank on Friday, scores of villagers from Nil'in village protested against the Israeli wall. The military attacked the protesters and injured three civilians.

After performing the Friday prayer on the land next to the Nil'in health clinic the people of Nil'in, accompanied by international and Israeli activists, marched to the Wall carrying Palestinian flags and posters of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Israeli troops immediately started to fire tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition at the protesters. Nonetheless a group of protesting youths managed to cut up parts of the fence and partially damage the gate. The army entered into the fields from three different sides, closing in on the group of around 100 demonstrators.

The army was shooting live ammunition from a distance of less than 3 meters. The crowded dispersed and two people sustained minor injuries from grazing shots. One medical volunteer was beaten up by an Israeli soldier. Eyewitnesses identified him as Mohamed Ali Sabti from the village.

Elsewhere on Friday the villagers of Al-Ma'sara near Bethlehem southern West Bank, along with their international and Israeli supporters protested the Israeli wall.

The protesters raised Palestinian flags and banners demanding that farmers be allowed to access their lands to pick olives. As with every Friday for the past three years, they were intercepted by Israeli soldiers who had put up a fence of barbed wire at the entrance to the village, effectively cutting off the villager's access to their lands.

Protestors removed the barb wire and continued their march towards their lands and the site of the Wall. In this instance the soldiers stood aside and allowed villagers to pass.

For IMEMC.org this is Zak Brophy.


The Political Report

This week, the Palestinian elections committee said that it can not prepare for the upcoming elections in January of 2010. Meanwhile, Israeli military said they would conduct internal investigations into possible war crimes by the army personnel during the last Israeli war on Gaza. IMEMC's Jessica Hulsey has the story:

The Palestinian presidency spokesperson said Friday they would announce an official response to a statement by the head of the elections committee, Hanna Naser, that the elections can not be held at this time.

Naser declared that in time, the ruling Hamas party in Gaza intends to block holding elections in the coastal territory unless a national unity agreement is reached. The committee can not lay the foundations for the upcoming general elections.

In the meantime, the rival Hamas and Fatah parties are yet to reach a unity deal due to Hamas' refusal to sign an Egyptian-presented reconciliation paper, on which Fatah had already signed.

Such developments come as the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was reported by some Fatah sources saying he would resign from both the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah party.

Abbas had earlier declared he would not run for any upcoming presidential elections, due to the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Washington has not exerted pressure on Israel to halt settlement activity on occupied Palestinian land. Hani Habib is a Gaza-based political analyst.



"The matter is based on the American administration's will towards some guarantees or moves that would eventually make the president reconsider his willingness".

In the meantime, Israeli chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, was reported saying that his army would embark on war crimes investigations during the last Israeli 22-day attack on the Gaza Strip in early January of 2009.

Ashkenazi's statement came less than one week after the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously the UN Goldstone report on human rights violations in Gaza, accusing Israel and the ruling Hamas party of committing war crimes against civilians.

However, human rights groups in Palestine considered Ashekanzi's call as a maneuver that is intending to evade international condemnation of Israel once the Goldstone report is submitted to the UN Security Council. Samir Zaqout is a spokesperson for the Almizan Center for Human Rights in Gaza.



"These investigations should be made public, we in rights group should verify such investigations whether they are true or not. Also, non-biased bodies should be involved in the probes, in order for us to make sure whether they are consistent with the findings of the Goldstone report. "

The Israeli offensive, Operation Cast Lead, claimed the lives of at least 1,500 Palestinians and left 6,000 others injured. 14 Israeli soldiers, and two civilians were killed during the operation.

For IMEMC.org this is Jessica Hulsey.


The Gaza Strip Report

As Israeli troops continued to shell areas in Gaza this week, Israeli chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, asked Palestinians to Provide testimonies over possible Israeli war crimes during the Israeli army’s war on Gaza. From Gaza IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari reports:

Palestinian medical sources reported early on Saturday that four Palestinians were wounded after Israeli army fired artillery shells at a number of residents near the Nahal Oz fuel terminal in eastern Gaza city.

Medical sources confirmed that at least four people were moderately injured during the attack near the fuel terminal. .

According to witnesses, Israeli army fire hit four residents while having lunch inside a nearby home and that the home was severely damaged.

In other news, Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, said Tuesday that the military is conducting investigations into possible war crimes during the January 2009 war on Gaza.

Ashkenazi told Israeli Media that his army currently verifying 45 out of 60 complaints already in hand. He also encouraged all Palestinians to produce proofs for more potential war crimes.

Ashkenazi admitted that during the 22-day onslaught, his troops might have hurt civilians. Cast Lead offensive claimed the lives of at least 1,500 Palestinians and left 6,000 others injured, 16 Israelis, including14 soldiers, and 2civilians killed.

The January2009 Israeli offensive, codenamed Operation Cast Lead was unleashed between December 27th 2008 to January 18th, 2009


For IMEMC.org this is Rami Al Meghari in Gaza.


The West Bank Report

This week the Israeli military conducted at least 28 invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Israeli troops kidnapped 40 Palestinian civilians. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura Reports:

This week’s invasions were focused in the cities of Nablus and Jenin, the northern West Bank, as well as Ramallah and the city of Hebron in the south. Among those kidnapped this week where 12 children.

Two Palestinian teenagers were injured late Tuesday night when Israeli settlers attacked them in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

Witnesses said that the two teenagers, Hatem Al Sharabati, 17, and his brother, Hazim, 16, were on their way home when settlers from the Tal Romeida illegal outpost, in Hebron's Old City, attacked them.
Doctors at the local hospital announced that the two sustained cuts and bruises due to the attack and were released from the hospital on Wednesday morning.
Palestinians in the West Bank marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall today in their own way. Scores of Palestinians gathered in the central West Bank city of Ramallah where protesters headed to the nearest site of the Israeli wall surrounding the city and dismantled parts of it.

Israeli troops attacked the crowd by firing tear gas at them. Eventually the crowd broke up - some suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.

The event was organized by local popular committees against the wall and settlements. Eyad Burnat is an organizer for those committees in Ramallah.



“As people celebrate today the dismantling the Berlin racist wall, in Palestinian we ent out a clear message that the Israeli racist wall should be removed as well.”

In 2004, The International Court of justice in The Hague ruled the Israeli wall illegal. Israel has yet to comply with their order while Palestinians continue to protest against the wall on a weekly basis at a number of locations in the West Bank.
For IMEMC.org this is Ghassan Bannoura.


Conclusion

And that's just some of the news from This Week in Palestine. For regular updates, please visit our website at www.IMEMC.org. Thank you for joining us from Occupied Bethlehem. This week's report has been brought to you by Dina Awwad

Audio Dept.
- e-mail: info@imemc.org
- Homepage: http://www.imemc.org

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech