The Jerusalem Media and Communications Center published a new poll on the 15th anniversary of the Oslo Peace Accords, which were signed in 1993. Conducted in the West Bank and Gaza, the poll found that since then, a majority of Palestinians believe the Accords harmed Palestinian national interests, with only 20.4% claiming it served their interests. The poll also found that 51.4% of Palestinians support postponing presidential elections for another year until January 2010. Hamas objects to this postponement, and is demanding elections be held in January 2009 along with parliamentary elections. The poll also indicated a rise in the level of support for the idea of a bi-national state as an alternative to a two-state solution.

The week began on a violent note, with the number of attacks and Palestinian deaths witnessing a sharp increase. This week was also the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which lasts for seven days. Israel imposed a closure on the West Bank and Gaza for the duration of the holiday, until October 21. The closure will deny entry to all Palestinian residents, including those with difficult-to-get permits, to enter Jerusalem or Israel. However, despite celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the Israeli army still found time to arrest scores of Palestinians and kill three more.

On October 12, Israeli forces arrested seven Palestinians in the West Bank towns of Khadr, Asira Ash-Shamalia and Jenin. Several homes were also ransacked. In Bethlehem, 30 Israeli army vehicles entered the town, demolishing parts of a building belonging to the Dweik family, while simultaneously closing down the area to residents and students. According to witnesses, Israeli soldiers also beat unconsciousness a 15-year old Palestinian student on his way home from school in the West Bank village of Taqu. Also on October 12, Palestinians clashed with Israeli police while protesting the opening of a new synagogue controversially placed close to Al-Aqsa Mosque. The land housing the synagogue was seized from the Islamic Waqf, the Trust in charge of maintaining and administering the mosques in Jerusalem.

On October 13, a young Palestinian man was injured by live bullets while crossing the Huwarra checkpoint. The next day Israeli forces detained a 20-year old Palestinian from the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Monday evening after ransacking his family home. In Karma, eight Palestinians were arrested when Israeli forces raided the village, using loudspeakers to gather the young people of the village into a school yard. All those arrested were in their early twenties.

On the evening of October 14, Abd Al-Qadir Muhammad Dar Zeida, a 17-year-old boy from the Jalazun refugee camp was killed and two others injured near the West Bank city of Ramallah after Israeli troops opened fire on the group they were in. Israeli soldiers claim the boys were preparing to throw Molotov cocktails on a nearby settlement, but eyewitnesses say they were merely standing in the streets, as many young boys do. The next day, Israeli forces shot and injured another Jalazun resident. Twenty-two year old Mohammed Jamal Ar-Ramahi, also from Jalazun, died in hospital two days later. Also on October 15, Israeli troops entered and arrested four Palestinians in the West Bank towns of Khadr and Deir Abu Mash’al.

On October 16, another young Palestinian was killed and another injured after Israeli troops raided the village of Kafr Malik near Ramallah. The young man killed was Shadi Saleh, 21 years old. On the dawn of the same day, Israeli forces seized four Palestinians during a raid in the West Bank town of Qabatiya. They ransacked several houses, destroying furniture and disrupting the sleep of residents. On Friday October 17, Israeli forces arrested 10 Palestinian citizens from several West Bank villages, claiming that the 10 were ‘wanted men’.

In other news, Palestinian security forces announced they would accompany Palestinian olive pickers in order to protect them from Israeli military forces and settlers. This comes after several attempts in the last few weeks by Israeli settlers and soldiers to disrupt the olive harvesting season. This week was no exception. On October 16, settlers from the West Bank settlement Qedumim set fire to olive trees owned by a Palestinian farmer in the village of Kafr Qaddum, which is adjacent to the settlement. Near Nablus, Israeli settlers from the settlement of Itamar drove flocks of sheep into Palestinian olive groves. The sheep devoured olives and figs from the grove, until Palestinian farmers managed to chase them away. On the same day, Israeli forces also closed an agricultural road between the villages of Kafr Al-Labad and Shufa, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, by building a mound of earth and rocks.

Israeli settlers have also been busy in other areas. On October 14, Israeli settlers chased and stoned a group of 11 unaccompanied Palestinian children on their way home from school in Hebron. The children were meant to be accompanied by Israeli soldiers who failed to do so. The children were all between the ages of six and eleven. On October 16, a group of settlers destroyed a Palestinian car near the settlement of Alon Moriah, near Nablus. According to the owner of the vehicle, settlers vandalized the car “within 100 meters of an Israeli checkpoint.” He was using the car to ferry olives harvested from his lands nearby. Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad stressed in a speech in Washington DC on October 12 that settlements in the West Bank are fast making the two-state vision of peace an ‘impossibility’.

On a happier note, several agencies have injected much needed funds into Palestinian humanitarian projects in the West Bank and Gaza. On October 13, ANERA announced that the ‘Milk for Preschoolers’ program has received a $1 million from Sheikh Hamad Ben Al-Khalifa El Than of Qatar. The program aims to deliver fortified milk and vitamins to young children each school day. The donation will allow ANERA to reach 20,000 more children. The United Nations also announced a new plan to feed 110,000 schoolchildren in Gaza over the next five month period.

On October 14, UNRWA signed an agreement with Salam Ya Sughar (SYS), a fund created through an initiative of wife of Sheikh Dr. Sultan III bin Muhammad al-Qasimi, the ruler of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The fund has raised US $22 million for Palestinian children.

World Poverty Day was celebrated around the world on October 17. In light of the occasion, the Arab Center for Agricultural Development released a report indicating that 70% of Gaza’s population lives below the poverty line, while 40% live in deep poverty. Official unemployment levels are also at 35%, though other sources claim that unofficial levels are much higher. In a speech at the opening of a women’s exhibit in Gaza on October 15, the head of United Nations Relief Operations in the Gaza Strip called on Israel to immediately lift the siege imposed on the 1.5 million Palestinians living there, saying that lifting the siege was the only way to “enable [Palestinians] to live in dignity.”

On October 16, the head of the Popular Committee against the Siege of the Gaza Strip announced that 35% of the deaths caused by Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip are children. According to Jamal Al-Khudari, 252 people have died since June 2007 as a result of lack of medical supplies, the closure of the border crossings and patients’ inability to travel abroad for treatment.

In internal Palestinian affairs, talks continued in Cairo between Hamas, Fatah, and other Palestinian factions. Different reports issued throughout the week claimed that Fatah and Hamas were nearing agreement, while other reports claimed that there were still technical issues plaguing the talks. However, this did not stop Hamas and Fatah security forces from detaining members of the opposing parties across the West Bank and Gaza. On October 12, Fatah security forces reported that they had shut down several Hamas-operated weapons warehouses and workshops in Hebron. Reports also came in on October 12 that Egyptian officials had met with Israeli officials to discuss a prisoner exchange involving Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. However, Hamas issued a statement on October 18 claiming that it would not negotiate unless Israel releases its Palestinian prisoners and Egypt frees a leader of Al-Qassam Brigade.

In Acre, rioting which started during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur between Israeli Jewish and Arab residents, calmed down slightly, even though all residents are still feeling the reverberations from the events. Hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon demonstrated in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Acre on October 17. MK Sheikh Abbas Zakkur, received death threats for criticizing Israel police force reactions to Palestinian residents. Israel’s Knesset has granted him more security protection as a result.

In order to supposedly restore calm, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot reported on October 12 that Israel had transferred ‘Arabized’ troops from three special units of the Israeli border police from the Ramallah area of the West Bank to Acre. These police are meant to have more knowledge in how to ‘deal’ with Palestinians.