this week in palestine

This Week in Palestine - a service of the International Middle East Media Center, IMEMC.org, for the week of March 4th to March 10th, 2005.

This Week in Palestine - a service of the International Middle East Media Center, IMEMC.org, for the week of March 4th to March 10th, 2005.

Talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders resumed this week after being stalled by the February 25th Tel Aviv bombing.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz meet on Tuesday at the Gaza Erez crossing to discuss the handover of control of West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority. This meeting and two subsequent meetings between Israeli and Palestinian military officials all failed to produce and an agreement.
Isreali Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz also met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Thursday. Mubarak demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the creation of a border buffer zone. Egyptian Presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said that Egypt is ready to help in the implementation of an Israeli disengagement that is "complete" and "coordinated.” Mubarak and Mofaz decided to form a joint Israeli-Egyptian coordination body to handle problems that appear on the ground. Egypt says it will deploy 750 troops at the border only after an Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone, known to Arabs as the Salah al-Din corridor and to Israel as the Philadelphi corridor.
These talks come in advance of an Egyptian-hosted meeting next week in Cairo between the Palestinian Authority and all Palestinian resistance factions. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said on Thursday that the meeting could result in the groups agreeing to formally halt attacks against Israel.

Meanwhile, Fatah, the ruling Palestinian political faction, faced two crises within the party this week. In Gaza, 250 Fatah members and leaders submitted their resignations, citing corruption and chaos in the party. In a separate incident, more than 20 Palestinian gunmen burst into a large gathering of the Fatah party on Thursday, ordering people out of the building and firing shots into the air. About 1,200 Fatah activists had gathered in a Ramallah hotel to discuss upcoming parliamentary elections when the gunmen burst into the building. Foad Kokale, Mayor of Beit Sahour and Fatah member, denounced the incident in Ramallah.

“Fatah is living in a real crisis. The main reason behind this crisis the absence of democracy within the movement. The young generation of leaders in Fatah should be able to take part in making decisions concerning the building of Palestinian society. What happened in Ramallah is tragic. I point my finger at the old guard of the Fatah movement for this armed disruption of the meeting. This kind of interference is unacceptable. The incident represents a disagreement between new reformists and the old guard of the party.”

Amid the series of political meetings, Israeli attacks on Palestinian communities continued this week. On Wedensday, the Palestinian Information Center reported 452 Israeli violations of the ceasefire in the fourth week of the truce agreement, including 68 shooting incidents, causing one death and 23 injuries. During the same period, Israeli troops arrested 110 Palestinians, erected 104 temporary checkpoints, and closed 102 separation wall gates. More than 8,000 dunams of land were expropriated, and large areas of family orchards were bulldozed, according to the report.
Thursday morning, a 25-year-old Palestinian was killed when Israeli forces demolished his home in Al-Nazla Al-Wista, north of Tulkarem. According to a local source, soldiers surrounded the home of Abu Khaleel and ordered him to come out. When he refused, the Israeli army demolished the home while he was inside. Abu Khaleel, a father of a 6-month-old baby, was crushed under the rubble.

Also on Thursday, Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Doura, southwest of Hebron, and broke into a school. A teacher at the school said that soldiers broke into classrooms, destroyed furniture and detained 200 students for hours. The Israeli army also invaded several villages in the West Bank regions of Tulkarem, Qalqilia, Nablus and Jenin this week.

Two Israeli soldiers were wounded by a Palstinian gunman Monday morning at a military checkpoint inside the old city of Hebron. Israeli medical sources said one of the soldiers is in critical condition and was taken to hospital for treatment. The Israeli army immediately imposed curfew in the old city of Hebron and sweept the area looking for suspects. Luna, a member of Christian Peacemakers Team, describes the situation.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers of Ramat Yeshai settlement erected on confiscated Palestinian land in Tel Rmeida neighborhood in Hebron, hurled stones and fired rounds of live ammunition at dozens of Palestinian homes causing damage. Settlers of Keryat Arba’ settlement also attacked homes in Al-Nassara neighborhood in Hebron.
Protests against the construction of the wall and annexation of Palestinian lands continued this week. Tuesday afternoon, dozens of residents protested in the village of Bala’in, west of Ramallah. Israeli soldiers fired gas bombs at the protestors and attempted to bar them from reaching their lands. The soldiers also fired rounds of live ammunition at homes in the village causing panic among the residents.
Undercover border policemen infiltrated anti-wall demonstrators in the village of Beit Surik near Jerusalem. Protesters, including Israeli peace activists and members of the International Solidarity Movement, said that border policemen hurled stones at peaceful protesters in order to ignite a violent confrontation. The protesters believe that undercover agents join the demonstratons in order to arouse Palestinian suspicions of Israeli and international supporters.

Israeli security at Tel Aviv airport arrested American peace activist Flo Razowsky on Saturday, denying her entry to the country. Razowsky is planning to non-violently resist her deportation, according to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). More than 130 ISM activists have been denied entry to Israel and the Occupied Territories and more than 70 have been deported over the past three years. Razaowsky says that she was targeted by Israeli authorities because of her work opposing the Israeli occupation.

This report has been brought to you by the International Middle East Media Center, IMEMC.org in Beit Sahour, Palestine.