Beit-Sahour Blog

A medical source at Alia Hospital in Hebron reported that three children were hospitalized after being attacked by the soldiers in Doura.

The children were identified as Nour Mohammad Abu Ras, 14, who suffered gunshot injuries in his legs, Jalal Yasser Al Sweity, 10, who suffered an injury in his thigh, and Waheeb Jihad Abu Zeid, 13, who was injured when a gas bomb fired by the army struck him in the head.

A Palestinian security source in Bani Neim reported that two children were injured by military fire. The two were identified as Mustafa Waleed Tarayra, 14, who suffered a gunshot injury in his leg, and Moath Mohammad Tarayra, 14, who suffered a gunshot injury in his left leg.

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli soldiers detained hundreds of residents of Beit Awwa village, south west of Hebron, after invading the village and breaking into dozens of homes.

A local source in Beit Awwa reported that all of the detained residents live close to the Separation Wall area, west of the village.

Dozens of residents were detained in a Beit Awwa School for Boys, and were forced to take their clothes off while the soldiers were searching and interrogating them.

Several human rights organizations in Palestine reported that most of the Palestinian children who were killed by the army died during aerial strikes in residential areas, and when the army carried out 'assassinations' against Palestinian fighters by dropping missiles in residential areas.

During the last month of 2005, several Israeli officials claimed that most of the Palestinian children who were killed by the army died when soldiers felt that their lives were threatened by the children.

Yet the huge number of children killed and injured during Israeli air strikes voids these allegations, says Risalat al Hoqouq. The documented Israeli violations of United Nations Resolutions and international human rights agreements point to a pattern of behavior by the Israeli military that makes children primary targets and victims of Israeli military operations.

A large number of children were killed at home, or close to their homes, in addition to many children who were killed at school or while walking to or from school.

The Risalat Al Hoqouq Report called on the international community to pressure Israel to respect its obligations under international law to protect occupied civilian populations, and to implement the Fourth Geneva Conventions regarding the protection of children in conflict zones.

The center said that the Israeli army has continuously violated the rights of Palestinian residents by its illegal occupation of Palestinian land, and children have paid the heaviest price of this occupation, adding that Israel never respected the approximately 150 United Nations Resolutions that have condemned the illegal occupation, or any treaties regarding human rights in the occupied territories, and continues to illegally occupy the Palestinian territories, and target children in their daily military practices.

At least six Palestinian children have been injured by Israeli military attacks during the past week alone.

Israeli online daily Haaretz reported that The GeoCartographia Research Institute conducted a public pull, which was commissioned by the Army Radio,  showing that 50% of the Israeli public opposes further withdrawal in the West Bank. According to the poll results, 68% of the Israelis believe that the government failed to meet the needs of the evacuated settlers.     

46% believe that the implementation of the pullout plan had caused a gap between the Israelis, while 41% said that disengagement is “one more event”.

When asked to classify the violent clashes that erupted as the army evacuated the illegal Amouna outpost in the West Bank, 44% of the respondents classified it as “one more event”, and 41% described it as a “rift”.

Also, 61% of the respondents said that the evacuation of  21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and 4 in the West Bank had improved Israel's relations with other countries, especially Europe.  

41% of the respondents said that they are in favor of a further withdrawal, of these 23% said that they favor a unilateral pullout because they felt that “Israel has no Palestinian partner for peace”.

18% said they support a withdrawal that will improve the conditions for reaching a future peace deal with the Palestinians.

The Maan News Agency reported on Monday that at least ten residents were injured during clashes which erupted after the residents protested against the Separation Wall in Beit Sera village, west of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The residents were also protesting against the uprooting of thousands of olive trees owned by the villagers.

Israeli troops fired rounds of live ammunition, concussion grenades and gas bombs at the protesters. Several residents were injured by rubber-coated bullets while others suffered injuries and bruises after the soldiers attacked and hit them with their batons.

Four of the injured residents were transferred to Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Ramallah, while the rest received first aid in a local clinic.

Mustafa Abu Hashish, member of Beit Sera village council, reported that soldiers uprooted on Sunday 4000 olive trees owned by the residents, in order to construct the Wall, adding that the uprooting of trees resumed on Monday morning.

Abu Hashish stated that confrontations broke out as village residents were barred from reaching their orchards earlier on Monday.

“The residents protested against the uprooting of their orchards”, he stated, “They protested against the military violations that targets their only source of livelihood”.

The annexed orchards will be used for settlement expansion in the area.

Since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, soldiers uprooted 55% of the orchards owned the residents of Beit Sera and constructed “agricultural settlements” there.

20% of the village's orchards were annexed in 1967, additional 20% were annexed in 1973, 5% were annexed in 2003, and 10% were annexed in 2006.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a leader of the Palestinian Hamas Party in Gaza, said he expects talks between Hamas and Russia to take place later this month.
"We are going to present our positions ... about the political developments and issues related to the rights of our people," Abu Zuhri said on Saturday. "Russia will listen to Hamas and Hamas will listen to Russia."

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have expressed worries that talks with Russia will bring the international community to the point of 'understanding why' a party like Hamas exists, and that understanding is something Israel has been trying to prevent the world community from knowing. Tzipi Livni, Israel's Foreign Minister, told Israel Radio, "Part of the danger is going down the slippery slope of first talking, then starting to understand why, then supporting with money, then granting legitimacy. This is a phenomenon that needs to be acted against."

Other Israelis are not so quick to write off the potential dialogue with the militant Hamas party. "The mentality of engagement is still the rule," says Shmuel Bar, a Middle East expert at the Herzlyia Interdisciplinary Institute, near Tel Aviv. "If we engage them, we can influence them," referring to the possibility of steering Hamas ledership toward a more moderate stance and away from influences of hard-line political Islamists such as the current leadership in Iran.

Condoleeza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, has expressed displeasure that Russia would meet with the Hamas party leadership, a party that the U.S. has termed 'terrorists', but says she remains convinced that Russia will not step outside of agreed upon policies of the 'Quartet' for Mid-East Peace, of which Russia is a member.

Russian envoy Alexey Pogodin spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday in the West Bank, apparently in preparation and planning for future talks between the Hamas party leadership and Russian President Vladimir Putin.