Date posted: November 29, 2008

November 29 marked the 25th day of the Israeli imposed closure on the Gaza Strip. Throughout the week, Israeli allowed a few deliveries of food and fuel supplies into Gaza, but not enough to make a dent in the humanitarian crisis ravaging the area. On November 25, Gaza’s sole power plant was closed due to a breakdown of its electricity-generating units because of the all too frequent shutdowns. The plant has been forced to close down several times in the last 3 weeks as Israel refuses to allow regular shipments of industrial fuel. Currently, only certain sections of the plant are working, while the equipment and spare parts necessary to repair the damage have not been allowed through.

On November 26, in the first such action by an Arab government, a ship has set sail from Libya to Gaza in order to deliver 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid. If successful, it will be the fourth such vessel to reach Gaza in defiance of the Israeli military blockade of the coastal territory. On the same day, another Arab government, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accused Israel of refusing to deliver donated aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, calling the siege "the main cause behind the unprecedented deterioration in the humanitarian economic and social situation in Palestine." On November 25, the EU announced it was giving a 5 million Euro donation to help Palestinian refugee families in Gaza, but it is unclear whether that aid will reach them.

On November 27, 2 homemade rockets were fired into Israel, with no reported injuries. The next day, another seven were launched at Israeli targets, following the death of a Palestinian fighter who was killed during Israeli shelling in northeast Gaza. Several others Palestinians were injured in the shelling. On the evening of the 28th, Hamas fighters fired 3 mortar shells at an Israeli military base along-side the Gaza strip, injuring 8 Israeli soldiers.

Moving away from Gaza, Hebron was the scene of continued violence surrounding the settler-occupied 'House of Contention’. On November 26, roughly 40 Israeli teenage settlers rampaged through the West Bank city, slashing car tires and smashing windows. They were reportedly protesting the possible eviction of settlers from the house. The settlers also threw rocks at Palestinian homes and sprayed a Star of David on a wall. None of the settlers involved were arrested. That same day, settlers also attacked Palestinian ambulances in the village of Dier Esteyah near Nablus. The Red Crescent ambulances were sprayed with epithets such as ’Death to Arabs’.

Protests against settler attacks and land confiscation took place around the West Bank on November 28. In a protest in the village of Jayous, 2 Palestinians were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets while participating in a demonstration. Four Palestinians were also shot by Israeli forces at an anti-wall march in the village of Ni’lin. At the same time, Israeli soldiers fired teargas, rubber-coated bullets and sound bombs at a group of international activists and local residents in a demonstration in Bil’in, though there were no reported injuries.

Israel continued its usual activities of raiding homes and arresting Palestinians across the West Bank. In an early morning raid on November 24, Israeli forces seized three young Palestinian men from their house near Tulkarem. Another young man was seized in Bethlehem. The next day, another 4 Palestinians were detained at in the towns of Bethlehem, Hebron and Qalqilia.

On November 26, an Israeli raid on a house in the refugee camp of Kalandia turned terribly wrong when the 60 year old mother of Mohammed Udah died from a heart attack as her son was being arrested. Her son was still taken despite his mother’s death. In anger, Palestinian youths took to throwing rocks at Israeli troops. A Palestinian teenager was seriously injured in the ensuing clashes and remains in hospital. The next day, a further 23 Palestinians were seized, including 11 Palestinians from Nablus, 2 from Tulkarem and 10 from Ramallah.

On November 24, the Israeli military demolished a Palestinian house without warning in the neighborhood of Al-Ezariya in east Jerusalem. The family said it received no notification that the house, recently completed in 2007, was to be demolished. The building was the sixth Palestinian home to be razed in east Jerusalem in the last three weeks. On November 26, Israeli military forces issued four new demolition orders of homes in the West Bank village of Aqaba. There are now 45 homes in Aqaba that are on Israel’s demolition list.

On November 27, the Civil Coalition to Defend Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCDPRJ) and Adalah, two Arab-Israeli civil rights organizations, announced plans to challenge the Israeli government's 'Regional Master Plan for Jerusalem’, on the grounds that it allows the expansion of illegal settlements while restricting Palestinian development. There are now some 200,000 Jewish settlers living in this area carved out of the center of the West Bank, and this plan has caused an increase in the number of Palestinian houses demolished and land confiscated.

An Israeli daily newspaper, Ha’aretz, published on November 26 details of operational briefings, uncovering information that the Israeli army has been assassinating wanted West Bank Palestinians in spite of the Israeli High Court of Justice's guidelines. High-level military officials approved assassinations in the West Bank, "even when it could have been possible to arrest the targets instead," according to the Ha'aretz report. Army officers also authorized the killings in advance, "… even if innocent bystanders would be killed as well,". This assassination policy runs contrary to what the military had been telling the High Court.

An Israeli human rights group called Yesh Din published a report that same day concluding that Israel was lenient on abusive soldiers. The report claimed that Israeli soldiers have been charged in just 6% of all inquiries into suspected offences against Palestinians between 2001 and 2007. Only 78 out of 1,246 army investigations since the start of the second Palestinian Intifada had actually led to charges. The report criticised what it called a "regular pattern" of failure to bring perpetrators to justice. The timing of the report was significant, as just the day before, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released footage of an Israeli soldier head-butting a Palestinian woman as she demonstrated against home demolitions in the Jerusalem village of Silwan.

Moving to internal Palestinian politics, the PLO Central Council elected Mahmoud Abbas the president of Palestine at a meeting on November 23. Abbas’ election means that he will hold the symbolic title of president of the State of Palestine as declared in 1988. His election was called "illegal" and "unprecedented" by Hamas. In a reversal of position, President Abbas also announced on November 24 that he would call for parliamentary and presidential elections at the beginning of 2009 if unity talks Hamas fail.

Finally, November 29 was marked by the UN as an annual day of observance, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Events take place all around the world to show support for the Palestinian people. While delivering a statement to mark the day of solidarity, the director-general of the OPEC Fund for International Development announced a US $3 million grant to UN operations in Palestine.

Source: MIFTAH