On November 1, the European Union harshly condemned the increasing violence and abuse of Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. The statement comes after weeks of increasing Israeli violence against Palestinians and international volunteers, mainly during the olive harvesting season. Most recently, on October 31, seven protesters including two French peace activists were injured by Israeli soldiers who fired live ammunition at a group of protesters at an anti-wall demonstration in the village of Bil’in near Ramallah. Italian Euro-MP Luisa Morgantini and British Liberal Democrat Chris Davies, who was beaten by Israeli soldiers, were amongst the protestors.

Settlers continued in their violent methods this week. On October 26, settlers from Kiryat Arba smashed several headstones and splashed paint over several others in the Ar-Ras Muslim graveyard of Hebron. They also vandalized property around the neighborhood. On October 27, Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli troops, prevented Palestinian farmers from the Karma village near Hebron from harvesting their olives. A group of Palestinian farmers accompanied by international volunteers were also assaulted near the settlement of Otni’el. Several were detained for hours under the pretext that they had entered a restricted military zone. Also on October 27, families living near the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba announced that they have been without access to water for several weeks. Palestinian residents accused settlers of cutting off a key water supply to the area. Emad Az-Zeer, the director of the water authority in their area said he had made several requests to the Israeli side to have the problem resolved, but received no reply. Ehud Barak, Israeli defense minister, called for new measures to tackle extremist settler violence. In a meeting on October 29, Israeli government officials agreed to reduce government services to illegal outposts in the West Bank in a bid to combat settler brutality. On October 30, two Israeli police officers were injured by several Israeli female settlers when attempting for a second time to dismantle an ‘illegal’ outpost near Hebron.

In Israeli internal politics, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni announced on October 26 that she would not be able to form a coalition government, calling for snap elections which are likely to be held in February or March of 2009. Despite the uncertainty this is likely to cause, internal Palestinian factional tension showed progress this week. On October 26, Hamas responded to Egypt’s conciliation document with general approbation, but highlighted two areas of discontent, namely the use of the word ‘violence’ and references to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. Meetings also took place throughout the week between different factions in preparation for the Cairo talks to take place on November 9. On October 27, high-level delegates of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) met to discuss ways to end internal Palestinian division.

On October 28, President Mahmoud Abbas announced, “We have agreed with Egyptians on the program of reconciliation … we want to confirm that PLO factions agreed on the Egyptian draft and they support it.” He continued to say that though there are no guarantees the Egyptian reconciliation plan will succeed and he was grateful that“… the Arab countries, especially Egypt, are exerting all efforts to achieve reconciliation alongside the Arab League and its secretary general.” In the spirit of conciliation, Hamas prime minister of the de facto government in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh released all political prisoners on October 30, calling on Fatah to do the same.

In a historic moment for Palestine, the Palestinian national football team played its first match on home soil on October 26. The match, which ended in a 1:1 draw, was played against Jordan at the newly inaugurated Faisal Al-Huseini Stadium in the Ram neighborhood of east Jerusalem. Captain Ahmad Kashkash scored for Palestine in the first half. Then, Ra’ed An-Nawatir scored the equalizer for Jordan in the fifth minute of the second half.

In another momentous occasion on October 26, the longest serving Palestinian female prisoner Suna Ar-Ra’i was released after serving 12 years in her second term in prison. After being sentenced, she was allowed to see her then three year old son only once.

On October 29, an Israeli military court sentenced two Palestinian members of parliament from the Hebron area to prison terms and fines. More than one third of the members of the Palestine Legislative Council are imprisoned in Israeli jails, most of whom were arrested in 2006 following the abduction of an Israeli soldier.

Israel continued its strategy of incursions and arrests this week. On October 28, Israeli forces detained three Palestinians after raiding houses in the Duheisha refugee camp and village of Ash-Shawara near Bethlehem. Israeli forces also detained three Palestinians in the old city of Nablus, all of whom were transferred to an unknown location.

On October 29, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 67-year-old Palestinian farmer in the northern West Bank town of Al-Yamun. Witnesses said the man, Muhammad Abahra, heard noises near his agricultural storage house, and as he went out with a hand lantern to check, he saw Israeli forces besieging the area and ransacking his neighbors’ homes. They immediately shot him, leaving him to bleed to death. Israeli forces also conducted raids overnight, seizing 11 Palestinians during raids in Nablus, Qalqilia, Jenin and Ramallah in the West Bank. Israeli forces also seized a young man from Bethlehem early on the morning of October 30. On October 31, Israeli forces stormed the Al-A’rub refugee camp near Hebron, breaking into several homes in the camp and arresting a local school teacher. One soldier who helped ransack the home of the Ash-Shareef family was accused of tearing a Qur’an in half and throwing it into a toilet. There was also violence in Jerusalem on October 31, when two Palestinian workers were stabbed in a bakery by two Israeli settlers.

Activists and dignitaries with the Free Gaza movement defied an Israeli blockade for the second time in three months when their ship, the SS Dignity, arrived on the shores of Gaza on October 30. Twenty-seven crew and passengers from 13 countries were on board along with a half-ton of medical supplies. Despite this, Israeli navy ships fired on activists who were assisting Gaza fisherman a day after arriving. An Israeli journalist Gideon Spiro was also arrested on October 30 for traveling to the Gaza Strip on the boat.

On November 1, the European Campaign to Break the Siege on Gaza announced it was preparing to send a massive international parliamentarian delegation to Gaza by sea. The delegation had arranged a visit to Gaza to bring awareness to their home countries and see the situation first hand, but was denied entry to the area by Egypt via the Rafah crossing in mid October.

On October 29, USAid and ANERA held inauguration ceremonies for the newly-constructed Al-Oja Boys High School and the Bardala Girls High School in the Jordan Valley. The government of Japan also announced it would provide a grant aid of approximately US $10 million as direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority to ease its budgetary burden. On October 30, the EU announced it would fund renovations of Palestinian public schools with a donation of 1.5 million Euros. Any amount of aid is welcome, especially in Gaza, where flooding from heavy rain throughout the week is the latest burden Gazans have had to bear.

Finally, on October 29, Palestinian Health Minister Fathi Abu Mughli arrived in Berlin on an official visit to discuss means of supporting Palestine’s troubled health sector. In addition to the problems caused by the occupation, the Health Ministry announced on October 28 that it was struggling to deal with an increase in Hepatitis A cases in a village near Ramallah. A Health Ministry report issued that same day in Gaza highlighted an increased rate of physical birth-defects and stillborn deliveries in the southern Gaza Strip. Health and environmental officials are looking into the possibility that the defects are the result of nuclear materials dumped from the Israeli nuclear facility near Dimona.