This Week in Palestine, July 28, 2017

As Israel ends its siege on Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque, Israeli army gunfire leaves three Palestinians killed this week. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.


The Nonviolence Report

Let’s begin our weekly report as usual with the nonviolent activities organized in the West Bank. Israeli troops attacked anti wall and settlement protests on Friday organized at a number of west Bank villages. As a result, many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.

In central West Bank, Israeli soldiers attacked protesters in Al Nabi Saleh before even leaving the village. At the nearby villages of Bil’in, and Ni’lin, residents and their supporters reached the Israeli wall. Soldiers stationed their showered them with tear gas and chemical water that generate bad smell. As a result, many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.

In Kufer Qadum village in northern West Bank, Israeli troops attacked the villagers and their international supporters at the village entrance. Later troops stormed the village and fired tear gas at protesters; many civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.


The Political Report

The Palestinian Authority this week hails the end of Alaqsa mosque standoff, as a result of ongoing regional and international efforts. IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari with the details:

The Islamic Conference Organization will convene early August, over the Jerusalem standoff, following clashes between Muslim worshipers and Israeli military, after Israel declared a number of security measures, for the Alqasa mosque compound of East Jerusalem.

Earlier this week, France called for the restoration of status quo in the occupied East Jerusalem, to prior of July14, 2017. Egypt, echoed the same reaction also, calling on Israeli occupation authorities to comply with the international calls for the best of that status quo.

The league of Arab states in Cairo, condemned Israeli actions and called on international bodies to pressure the Israeli government.

However, no concrete protests by all such states, have been taken yet, as the crisis went on until this Friday. On Friday afternoon, Israel had completed removal of all survielnce camers or metal detectors around the mosque and reopened all the mosque’s gates, closed by Israel over the past two weeks.

Under immense popular pressure by the Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem, Israel authorities lift a ban on entry of those aging less than 50.

In the meantime, Palestinian Authority praised the steadfastness of Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem and appreciated what it called efforts by various concerned international and Arab parties, for the end of Alqsa standoff.

Israeli measures at the mosque are seen by Palestinians as an Israeli attempt to transform the holy city, following UNESCO’S ruling that East Jerusalem is Palestinian city, with world heritage.

For IMEMC News, I am Rami Al Meghari in Gaza,


The West Bank and Gaza report

This week three Palestinians were killed in separate attacks by Israeli army gunfire. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura Reports:

Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Friday afternoon, Abdullah Taqatqa, 24, at the junction of Gush Etzion Israeli colony, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, after the soldiers alleged that the man “attempted to stab them. Taqatqa is from Marah M’alla town, east of Bethlehem.

Eyewitnesses told local news agencies that the Palestinian was walking towards Bethlehem, and was at least twenty meters away from the nearest soldiers, when one of them shouted at him, and fired a live round, before other soldiers fired five more rounds. He had no weapons or a knife on him, Eyewitnesses added.

Also on Fridays, Israeli military killed 16-year old Abdul-Rahman Hussein Abu Hamisha, during a protest against the ongoing Israeli assault on the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and the deadly and inhumane conditions of the Israeli siege of Gaza.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Abu Hamisha was participating in a protest east of al-Boreij refugee camp in central Gaza, when Israeli troops, stationed across the border fence, opened fire on the protesters, killing him, and wounding at least ten others.

The injured were all said to have received bullet wounds from live ammunition fired by the Israeli soldiers. Some were injured in the al-Boreij protest, while others were shot during protest marches in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Moreover, Israeli soldiers shot and injured, on Friday evening, a young Palestinian man, while in his own land with his children, in Deir Ballout town, west of Salfit, in the northeastern part of the occupied West Bank. The man was with his family in his lands located near the Israeli wall to water his trees.

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that a young Palestinian man died, on Thursday evening, of serious wounds he suffered, on Monday of this week, after Israeli soldiers shot him during an invasion into Hizma town, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem.

During the week, Israeli forces conducted at least 81 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Jerusalem. During these invasions, Israeli troops detained at least 128 Palestinian civilians, including 14 children.

In the Gaza Strip this week, Israeli navy ships opened fire on many Palestinian fishing boats, in the northern part of the coastal region, forcing the fishers back to shore. On Tuesday, Local sources reported that Israeli tanks fired shells toward Palestinian farmland and grazing pastures for animals east of Qarara, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli soldiers fired several, on Monday at dawn, artillery shells into a few areas, east of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, causing damage. Palestinian sources in Gaza said the soldiers fired shells into monitoring sites used by fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

For IMEMC News this is Ghassan Bannoura.


Conclusion

And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine. This was the Weekly report for July 22, to the 26, 2017. From the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www-dot-imemc-dot-org, This week’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and me Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura.