Palestine in Pictures: September 2017

Israeli forces detain a Palestinian youth after soldiers entered a Palestinian Authority-controlled area in the West Bank city of Hebron, 20 September.

Wisam Hashlamoun APA images

During the month of September an Israeli Border Police combatant and two security guards were killed during an attack outside the Har Adar settlement near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank. The alleged Palestinian assailant was also shot and killed during the 26 September incident.

Israeli forces immediately imposed collective punishment measures on several villages near the Palestinian gunman’s hometown of Beit Surik, subjecting their 40,000 residents to raids, property damage, arrests and sweeping movement restrictions.

A Palestinian youth died from injuries he sustained a month earlier when Israeli soldiers shot him seven times at close range after breaking into his home in a pre-dawn raid in Dheisheh refugee camp near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Fifty-eight Palestinians have died by Israeli fire so far this year. Fifteen Israelis and a British national have been killed by Palestinians during the same period.

Two Hamas fighters died in a tunnel collapse near Gaza City during the month, and a third died during a training exercise in the south of the territory.

Boy shot, family evicted

A Palestinian boy was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded by soldiers at the entrance to the Kiryat Arba settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron. Israel accused the boy of brandishing a kitchen knife.

Eight members of the Shamasneh family in Jerusalem were forcibly evicted from the home in which they had lived for half a century.

Jewish settlers have taken over the Shamasneh family’s home, as they have occupied several others in the city’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Many other Palestinian families in the area are also waging court battles against eviction as settlers claim ownership of their homes.

A group of Israeli settlers attacked a 15-year-old Palestinian boy, beating him and dragging his naked body and throwing him off a two-meter-high fence.

Israeli settlers reportedly set fire to approximately 400 olive trees owned by Palestinian farmers from Burin, a village near Nablus in the northern West Bank. Nearly 3,000 Palestinian-owned trees have been vandalized in the West Bank since the beginning of the year.

Rafah crossing – the sole point of exit and entry for the vast majority of Gaza’s two million residents – was opened six days during September. Some of those days the crossing was only open in one direction to allow Palestinians to return to Gaza via Egypt.

The crossing has been partially opened for only 29 days so far this year.

Palestinians in Gaza continued to endure rolling power cuts of up to 18 to 20 hours per day during the month.

Palestinians in Syria

Two dozen Palestinian refugees from Syria were reported to have died in relation to the ongoing violence in the country during the month of September.

Around half of them were fighters with government-allied militias who were killed in battle.

Two Palestinians from Yarmouk refugee camp, including a newborn baby, died as a result of lack of access to medical treatment.

Another refugee was reported to have suffocated while being smuggled in a shipping container in the Netherlands.

A child was killed by a stray bullet in Khan Eshieh refugee camp, and a Palestinian in Yarmouk camp was killed by an Islamic State sniper.

Palestinians skin a slaughtered bull on the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the feast of the sacrifice, in Gaza City on 1 September. The holiday marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates the prophet Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son at God’s command.

Mohammed Dahman APA images

A Palestinian girl lays flowers on the grave of a relative on the first day of Eid al-Adha in Gaza City on 1 September.

Mohammed Dahman APA images

Palestinians celebrate Eid al-Adha in Gaza City on 4 September.

Yasser Qudih APA images

Israeli police arrest a member of the Shamasneh family following their eviction from their home in the Sheikh Jarrah area of occupied East Jerusalem on 5 September.

Heidi Levine Sipa Press

Israeli soldiers prevent Palestinian schoolchildren from crossing a checkpoint in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley on 6 September. The students had tried to cross by foot after waiting for more than 90 minutes in their school bus that was stopped by soldiers at the checkpoint. The army gave no reason for the closure.

Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills

Palestinians attend a performance by Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf in the West Bank housing development of Rawabi on 8 September.

Shadi Hatem APA images

A Palestinian woman holds on to her son as Israeli police detain him during an 8 September protest in front of a home whose Palestinian occupants had been forcibly evicted to make way for Jewish settlers in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The Shamasneh family had lived in the home for more than 50 years before they were forced out days earlier.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Israeli soldiers prevent Palestinian schoolchildren from crossing a checkpoint in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley on 6 September. The students had tried to cross by foot after waiting for more than 90 minutes in their school bus that was stopped by soldiers at the checkpoint. The army gave no reason for the closure.

Ahmad Al-Bazz APA images

Palestinian workers queue at the Qalandiya military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah in order to reach their workplaces in Jerusalem and 10 September. While Israelis are allowed to travel freely across the the boundary between Israel and the West Bank, Palestinians in the West Bank are required to obtain a military permit in order to cross.

Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills

Palestinian Authority employees in the Gaza City protest after they were forced into early retirement by the leadership in the West Bank, 12 September.

Mohammed Asad APA images

A Palestinian farmer harvests grapes near the West Bank city of Hebron, known for its quality grape production and lush vineyards, 14 September.

Wisam Hashlamoun APA images

An Israeli soldier takes photos of Palestinian protesters during a demonstration against the occupation in the West Bank city of Hebron on 18 September.

Wisam Hashlamoun APA images

Suha al-Akeleek, the wife of Palestinian political prisoner Qasim al-Akeleek, lies on a Nablus hospital bed with her newborn twins Aboud and Hagar, who were conceived with sperm from her husband smuggled out of an Israeli prison, 18 September.

Ayman Ameen APA images

Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, flashes the victory sign upon his arrival to the Gaza Strip on 19 September. Haniyeh said that Hamas was ready to receive the Palestinian Unity Government in Gaza after years of bitter impasse between his group in Gaza and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Yasser Qudih APA images

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas meets with US President Donald Trump in New York City on 19 September.

Thaer Ghanaim APA images

Palestinians in Gaza City watch Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’ address at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly on 20 September.

Mohammed Asad APA images

Israeli soldiers at the back entrance to Har Adar settlement, where a Border Police combatant and two security guards were killed in a shoot-out with a Palestinian gunman, who also died at the scene, 26 September.

Guo Yu Xinhua

Israeli forces detain a Palestinian protester during a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land in the village of Atouf, near the West Bank city of Tubas, 27 September.

Ayman Ameen APA images

Nickolay Mladenov (left), the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, meets with Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah in the West Bank city of Ramallah on 28 September.

APA images

Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, holds a meeting in Gaza City on 28 September.

Mohammed Asad APA images

Palestinians look on as militants from the Nasser Brigades, an armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, take part in a military parade in Gaza City on 29 September to mark the 17th anniversary of the group’s founding.

Mohammed Asad APA images

Tags