This Week in Palestine, November 25th, 2016

This week a Palestinian child and a man were killed by Israeli troop in separate attacks in the West Bank meanwhile the Israeli government approves hundreds of new homes in illegal settlements. 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. This week protests were organized in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin and al Nabi Saleh in central West Bank, and in the northern West Bank village of Kufer Kadum.

in Kufer Kadum many residents were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation as Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest there. Troops later stormed the village and fired tear gas into residents homes.

Meanwhile in the villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin, in central West Bank, Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters as soon as they reached the gate in the wall that separates local farmers from their lands.

At the nearby al Nabi Saleh village, troops attacked protesters at the village entrance. Israeli soldiers fired several rounds of rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at protesters and nearby homes. Many residents suffered effects of tear gas inhalation as a result


The Political Report

While Trumps speaks of peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, Israeli Authorities approves the construction of 500 new settlement units, IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura with the details:

Shortly after being elected President, Donald Trump he expressed his hope to make peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Yet, the Israeli government rushed to approve the construction of 500 news settlement units and revealed intent to build more than 30,000 others in a number of West Bank settlements.

Before his election, Trump stated that he supported settlement expansion, and that he will move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, making it “the undivided capital of Israel.”

IMEMC has reported in July of 2015 that Jason Greenblatt, an executive at the Trump Organization and an adviser on Israel to Trump, said that “Mr. Trump does not view the settlements as an obstacle for peace. I think he would show Gaza as proof of that.”

On his part, Dr. Sa’eb Ereikat, Chief Palestinian negotiator expressed his belief that the election of Trump has emboldened the racists in Israel and that they are not worried about openly talking about the deletion of the two-state solution as an option.

After the election, Israeli Minister of Education Naftali Bennett said it was “an opportunity for Israel to immediately retract the notion of a Palestinian state in the center of the country”, and that it signaled that the “era of a Palestinian state is over.”

In the meantime, the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions campaign continued to win more people on its side. In Norway, elected representatives in Trondheim, Norway’s third-largest city, have voted to boycott goods and services from Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Trondheim’s city council has also called on the Norwegian national parliament to take a similar decision and urged the city’s residents to shun goods from Israeli settlements.

The Trondheim decision has been hailed as a victory for the Palestinian-led movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

Kathrine Jensen, chair of the Palestine Committee of Norway said, in this regard, “Although this is limited to occupied territories it is an important step forward for the BDS movement in Norway.”

For IMEMC News, this is Ghassan Bannoura.


The West Bank and Gaza Report

A child and a man were killed his week by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank, meanwhile Israeli navy continue to attack Gaza fishermen. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali reports:

Mohamed Zidan, 15, was shot and killed on Friday afternoon by Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint at the entrance of Shofaat refugee camp in Jerusalem. Soldiers claimed that he had a knife while crossing the checkpoint. Israeli soldiers closed the area and did not allow Palestinian in or out of the refugee camp, local sources reported.

Also this week, Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Tuesday morning, Jihad Khalil, 40, at Qalandia terminal, north of occupied East Jerusalem.

Eyewitnesses said he bled to death after the soldiers prevented Palestinian medics from approaching him. The soldiers claimed that he tried to stab them.

A statistic prepared by the Jerusalem Institute for Israeli and Palestinian affairs has shown that the number of Palestinians who have been killed, since the start of the Al-Quds Intifada (Jerusalem Uprising), which broke out in October of 2015, has now reached 265.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian-owned home in Yatta, near Hebron in southern West Bank. The house was damaged but no one was injured.

Earlier in the week, Israeli soldiers shot and injured, on Monday, a Palestinian worker east of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, as he was trying to enter Jerusalem for work. Mahmoud Salah, 31, was injured with a live round in his right leg. Salah’s wounds were described as moderate-but-stable.

During the week, Israeli forces conducted at least 68 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and in occupied Jerusalem. During these invasions, Israeli troops kidnapped 52 Palestinian civilians, including 13 children.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli navy attacked Palestinian fishing boats. On Saturday Israeli gunboats stationed in the sea, north of the Gaza Strip, opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats forcing them to head back to shore. Similar attacks were reported on Sunday and Monday of this week. During the attacks Palestinian fishing boats were sailing within 2-3 nautical miles offshore.

For IMEMC News this is Majd Batjali.


Conclusion

And that’s all for today from This Week in Palestine. This was the Weekly report for November 19, to the 25, 2016, 2016. 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.