The Israeli National Water Company has cut off the water supply to two Arab Druze towns inside Israel.  While water cut-offs by Israeli authorities are common within the Occupied Territories of Gaza and the West Bank, they are fairly unheard of within Israel itself.

While the National Water Company, Mekorot, blamed the municipal authorities in the towns of Daliyat al-Karmel and Usafiya for collecting the fees and then keeping them instead of passing them on to the water company, the municipal authorities say the Ministry of Interior is to blame.

 

For the last five years, the towns have been under the control of a federally-appointed comptroller who was supposed to arrange a payment plan for the towns to pay off past debt to the water company.  First, the two municipalities were combined under a single entity called Carmel City, and ‘Carmel City’ signed an 18-month payment plan that would have ended in May 2009. 

But after six months, the entity ‘Carmel City’ was dissolved, and the two municipalities returned to having separate governing authorities.  But apparently the federally-appointed comptroller did not take responsibility for following up on the 18-month payment plan made with the no-longer-existent Carmel City, and the plan expired with millions of shekels unpaid.

The water company makes no provision for the weather in their decisions to cut off water in non-payment cases.  Instead, they happened to choose a day (July 1st) that is in the middle of a heat wave, and is in fact the hottest day so far this year.

Ordinary citizens who pay their water fees each month are outraged that the two municipalities have been completely cut off.  Kamal Adwan, a resident of one of the towns, told Israeli daily Yediot Ahranoth, "It's not easy to get by without water in this heat. A few have water reservoirs or wells near their houses, others just have to buy bottled mineral water."  Another resident, Samah Kayouif, told the Israeli daily that the residents had received no notice of an impending water cutoff, saying, "We woke up in the morning to find there was no water in the pipes. How do you shower? Shave? Go to the bathroom? Never mind just getting a drink. It's impossible to live like this, I had to go to work, but my wife took the kids and drove to her parents' because they have a rainwater reservoir."

Mekorot water company issued a statement saying that they "deeply regret" the suffering of ordinary citizens, but told those citizens to complain to their municipality.

Israel sources reported Friday that Israel said it would pay compensation to the United Nations for shelling its property, including schools and warehouses, in the Gaza Strip during the war on Gaza six months ago. 

The UN stated that its inquiry showed that the army shelled UN facilities seven times during the war; one of the shelled facilities was a UNRWA school in Jabalia. 

UNRWA's Commissioner-General, Karen Abu Zaid, stated that the UN is currently putting clearly the value of the loss. 

 It is worth mentioning that UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon, stated that he is seeking a compensation that exceeds $11 million. 

 On Thursday, AMNESTY International published a report accusing Israel of killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians and of destroying thousands of homes in the Gaza Strip during the offensive. 

AMNESTY said that this constitutes a war crime, and called on Israel to make a clear pledge that it will not use artillery, white phosphorus shells, and other types of imprecise weapons against populated areas. 

AMNESTY also said that the firing of homemade shells from Gaza into adjacent Israeli areas  also constitutes a war crime. 

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), based in Gaza, reported that 1415 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during the war. About 6000 were wounded. Most of the casualties were civilians, including women and children. Dozens of residents died of their wounds later on.   

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported Friday that three children from the central West Bank city of Ramallah were diagnosed with the swine-flu.

Dr. As’ad Ramlawi of the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the three children got the infections by being around older residents who are infected with the flu.

The number of officially diagnosed swine-flu cases in the West Bank now stands at 54.

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Welcome to This Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for June 27th to July 3ed, 2009.

Israel refuses to halt settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory, while the military kills a teen in Gaza. 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 Kathrin Orwell:

Bil'in

This Friday, three protesters were injured and Dozens suffered from gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest in Bil'in village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

International and Israeli supporters joined the villagers of Bil'in and marched from the village center after the Friday midday prayers. The protesters demanded the halt of the Israeli illegal settlements and the construction of the wall.

As the protesters arrived at the wall, Israeli troops stationed at its gate fired a barrage of sound bombs, tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. Three protesters were lightly wounded as Dozens were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.

In related news this week the Israeli High Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered the Israeli military to press stronger charges against an officer after shooting a bound and blindfolded Palestinian civilian from Bil'in last September.

The court decision came based on a petition by Israeli human rights organizations on behalf of the victim Ashraf Abu Rahmeh, 27. On the 17th of April, 2009, Abu Rahmeh's brother Bassem was shot and killed with a tear gas canister by an Israeli soldier at a peaceful demonstration against the wall in Bil'in.

Nil'in

Also near Ramallah on Friday Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian villagers along with international and Israeli peace supporters during the weekly non-violent protest against the wall in Ni'lin village.

Villagers and their supporters held the midday prayers near the construction site of the Israeli Wall, and then they marched towards the bulldozers building the wall.

As soon as the crowd reached the location and started to dismantle part of the wall, troops attacked them with tear gas. Scores were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.

For IMEMC.org this is Katharine Orwell.

The Political Report

One month after President of the United States, Barak Obama, pledged to bring the Palestinians and Israeli’s back to the negotiation table, Washington failed to make Israel halt settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory. Meanwhile, intra-Palestinian national unity talks in Cairo were postponed until July 25th. IMEMC's Jessica Hulsey reports:

This week in Palestine, Israel decided to deport 21 international human rights and peace activists from the Israeli seaport of Ashdod to their home countries. These activist were onboard a Free Gaza Movement boat, the eighth of its type since January of this year.

The boat, Spirit of Humanity, carried aid shipments to the besieged Gaza Strip, including quantities of cement, medicine and childrens toys. Queiva Batterly is a coordinator with the Free Gaza Movement, a solidarity international campaign dedicated to breaking the Gaza blockade.

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Meanwhile, Israeli occupation authorities in the West Bank announced this week a new bid to construct more than 1500 housing units in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. The new tender comes as George Mitchell, Washington's envoy to the region, failed in a meeting with Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak to force Israel into a settlement freeze. Khalil Altafakji is in charge of the maps department at the Arab studies center in east Jerusalem.

" To evade U.S or international pressure, Israel will claim that such settlement units construction is a part of natural growth in existing settlements. It will also proceed in dismantling some 'random outposts', but it will integrate them in major Israeli settlements".

This week, two international human rights groups accused Israel of committing war crimes during the January Israeli war on Gaza. Human Rights Watch said Israel had wrongly used drones against Gaza, causing scores of civilian deaths. Amnesty International accused Israel of perpetrating war crimes against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. The report also blamed Hamas for committing war crimes. Hamas rebuffed Amnesty Internationals accusations, describing the organization's report 'unfair'.

Also this week, on the internal Palestinian level, both rival Hamas and Fatah parties failed to agree on contentious issues, such as an agenda for the upcoming unity government. The parties met in Cairo this week within their sixth round of Cairo-mediated reconciliation talks. They will be holding one more session on July 25th. Sahar Alqawasmi is a Fatah MP in the West Bank:

We believe that the Arab parties are concerned about the success of the dialogue. We realized the fact that Hamas is being preurred by some regional parties. I believe that the Arab parties are pushing forward success of such a dialogue".

Since wrestling for control over the Gaza Strip after ousting Fatah-allied security forces from the coastal territory in June of 2007, Hamas came under a crippling Israeli blockade. The blockade has grossly hampered daily lives of Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

For IMEMc.org this is Jessica Hulsey .

The Gaza Strip Report

As the Israeli military continued to besiege the Gaza Strip, a teen was killed this week by soldiers’ fire, meanwhile the Israeli navy stopped peace activists from reaching the coastal region through the sea, for Gaza IMEMC’s Rami Al Meghari reports:

Palestinian Medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported Thursday that a 17-year-old girl was killed, and her 24-year-old brother was injured when the army fired an artillery shell at an area close to Juhr Ed Deek in Central Gaza.

The shell directly hit the house of Abu Ayish family. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that a 3-year-old child, and 10 other members of Abu Ayish family were also wounded.

Military sources claimed that Israeli soldiers came under fire while patrolling near the Gaza border fence, and that they responded by firing mortars at the Palestinian side. But the mortars hit Palestinian civilians, killing the girl and wounding at least eleven other civilians. The army said that it is likely that the civilians were at close range to the fighters.

In other news a house in Eastern Gaza that had been damaged by shelling during Israel's offensive in Gaza in the beginning of this year collapsed on Monday killing one Palestinian and injuring three others. According to witnesses the house collapsed while workers were doing repairs. It has been reported that there might have been three more people missing in the house. The three injured sustained moderate injuries and were taken to the hospital.

Elsewhere the Israeli authorities decided on Thursday to open Gaza's three trade terminals in order to allow the entry of dozens of trucks filled with aid for the agricultural and trade sectors. The authorities said that 100 to 110 trucks were allowed in.

In other news the Israeli Authorities decided on Wednesday to deport 21 international peace activists who were kidnapped by the Israeli navy while sailing to Gaza carrying humanitarian aid and medical supplies to the besieged strip. The activists will be deported in the coming days.

On Tuesday afternoon Israeli Naval Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, 23 miles off the coast of Gaza while being in international waters, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries. The boat left Cyprus heading to Gaza on Monday.

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

The West Bank Report

This week the Israeli military conducted at least 18 military invasions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank during those attacks Israeli troops kidnapped 28 Palestinian civilians, including 10 children, IMEMC's Jane Smith reports:

This week invasions were focused in the cities of Ramallah, central West Bank, Bethlehem and Hebron, southern West Bank, and the northern city of Nablus.

On Friday, a Palestinian woman was shot and moderately wounded in her lower body after an Israeli soldier opened fire on her at a military roadblock in the Jordan valley.

Israeli military sources claimed that the woman arrived at the roadblock while carrying a ‘suspicious object’, and that she failed to cede to the soldiers orders to stop. Troops claimed that the soldiers fired several rounds into the air before shooting her. Witnesses said that the women had a toy gun.

Four Palestinian youths were injured, on critically, on Wednesday evening by Israeli military fire near the Tafoah settlement, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The Israeli Radio claimed that the four were shot after hurling stones at a settlers’ vehicles.

Two women were taken to the hospital and seven others were wounded as they clashed with Israeli police, trying to prevent their house from demolition in East Jerusalem.

The house, located on the Mount of Olives in occupied East-Jerusalem, was home to 15 people. The Israeli police had come to the location to ensure that the demolition of the house would not be stopped or delayed by protests. The police bruised 9 people while attacking the family that owned the house, who were trying to stop the bulldozers.

The owner of the house said that the demolition was not preceded by any warning. The event came one day after the municipality reported that it would freeze 70% of its demolition orders for Palestinian houses in East-Jerusalem.

In related news the Israeli military civil administration officers handed over demolition orders on Tuesday to six homes, four water aquifers and one green house owned by Palestinians south of Bethlehem city, in the southern West Bank.

The homes and structures are located in Al Kahder Town. The houses are the homes of some 40 people, local sources reported. The army claims that they lack the needed building permits and are very close to the nearby settler road.

For IMEMC.org this Jane Smith.

Conclusion

And that's just some of the news of this week in Palestine. For constant updates, please check out our website, www.IMEMC.org. Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. This week's report has been brought to you by Ghassan Bannoura.

Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian villagers along with their international and Israeli peace supporters during the weekly non-violent protest against the wall in Ni'lin village, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday.

Villagers and their supporters held the midday prayers near the construction site of the Israeli Wall, and then they marched towards the bulldozers building the wall. As soon as the crowd reached the location and started to dismantle part of the wall, troops attacked them with tear gas. Scores were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.