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Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for January 09, to the 15, 2016.
Ten Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli gunfire this week, meanwhile a Major US church divests from Israel. 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. one youth was injured, another civilian kidnapped on Friday meanwhile scores others were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked nonviolent protests organized in West Bank villages. IMEMC’s Majd Batjali with the details :
In Kufer Kadum in northern West Bank 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. In Ni’lin , a youth were injured when he was hit directly with tear gas bombs fired by Israeli troops at protesters. Many protesters suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation and were treated by field medics at both locations.
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.
One civilian was kidnapped when Israeli soldiers tried to stop a nonviolent protest organized at settlers road 60, near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. At least 350 Israeli, Palestinian and international activists joined a nonviolent protest on Friday that was organized by Combatants for Peace Movement, in collaboration with a number of Palestinian and Israeli NGOs.
For IMEMC News this Majd Batjali.
The Political Report
A Major US church divests from Israel and tension arises between Israel and Sweden over the latest Foreign minister’s statements. IMEMC’s George Rishmawi has more:
The Israeli government has summoned Swedish Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser over Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström’s call for a probe into Israeli “extrajudicial executions” of Palestinians. According to Israeli news outlet Ynet News, on Wednesday this week, Mr. Nesser was urgently summoned to the offices of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was rebuked by Deputy Director-General for European affairs Aviv Shir-On.
Shir-On expressed the Israeli government’s anger at what he called Wallström’s ‘twisted presentation of reality’, and her ‘biased, even hostile treatment of Israel. He added that, due to these comments, by the Swedish minister, Sweden should expect to be excluded from any role that pertains to Israeli-Palestinian relations.
Early this week, Wallström required examination of whether the Israeli killings of Palestinians, that have taken place in the recent months of unrest between Israelis and Palestinians, were extra-judicial and without trial
This is the second time in less than two months that the Swedish ambassador has been summoned to the Israeli Foreign Ministry for rebuke.
The last time was in mid-November 2015, when Wallström made statements that connected the ISIS attack in Paris to the frustration of the Palestinian people. Relations between Sweden and Israel have worsened, shortly after Wallström came into office, when Sweden recognized Palestine as an independent state in 2014, and blasted continuous Israeli aggression against Palestinians.
In other news, the United Methodist Kairos Response announced that the $20-billion Pension and Health Benefits Fund of the United Methodist Church has declared the five largest Israeli banks off limits for investment and has divested from the two that it held in its portfolios.
The banks in question are Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. These banks are deeply involved in financing illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. This is the first time a major church pension fund has acted to preclude investment in Israeli banks that sustain Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
For IMEMC News, this is George Rishmawi
The West Bank and Gaza Report
This week ten Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire during attacks targeting West Bank and Gaza communities. IMEMC’s Ghassan Bannoura reports:
On Friday, two Palestinians were killed in the Gaza strip when they were shot by Israeli troops gunfire. Palestinians sources said that clashes erupted between Palestinian unarmed protesters and Israeli troops at the southern Gaza Strip borders with Israel. Troops used live gunfire killing the two youth.
Moreover, two more civilians were killed on Thursday by Israeli troops; one was killed at a military checkpoint near the southern West Bank city of Hebron while the other was killed at another checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
One Palestinian killed, three others injured, on Wednesday, by Israeli air attack that targeted the northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian medical sources have reported, Wednesday, that one Palestinian was killed and three others were injured, at least one seriously, after an Israeli drone fired a missile into an area, west of Beit Lahia town, in the northern part of the coastal region.
Earlier in the week, Israeli soldiers shot and killed, Tuesday, two Palestinian teens near Beit ‘Anoun village junction, east of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
A third Palestinian was shot and injured, and many others suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation. Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers invaded, Tuesday, Beit Jala city, in the West Bank district of Bethlehem, and clashed with local youths, in the Sahl area, before shooting to death a young man, and wounding several others, one seriously.
On Saturday, Israeli forces stationed at al-Hamrah checkpoint, southeast of Tubas in central West Bank, killed two Palestinian civilians. Troops claimed that the two tried to stab soldiers. Witnsses said that soldiers killed the two Palestinians in cold blood.
Also this week, Israeli forces conducted at least 79 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. During these invasions, Israeli troops kidnapped at least 64 Palestinian civilians, including eight children.
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 January 09, to the 15, 2016. From the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org, This week’s report has been brought to you by Maher Qasiess and me Eman Abedraboo-Bannoura.
