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Palestine Today 05 17 2010
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www.imemc.org for Monday May 17th, 2010.
Palestinians mark Nakba as Israeli troops continue to attack residents in Jerusalem. These stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Palestinians marked on Monday the 62 anniversary of the Nakba in the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Hundreds joined the annual protest march in the city flags and banners demanding the right of return to the Palestinian refugees.
Palestinians mark Nakba day while the Israelis celebrate the creation of the state of Israel. 800,000 Palestinians became refugees in different parts of the world.
Also on Monday Israeli police officers attacked Palestinian peddlers in Jerusalem’s old city. Eyewitnesses said, police officers confiscated the kiosks and assaulted the owners. This market is one of the oldest markets in Jerusalem to sell food and vegetables among other small items.
Local sources said the police were acting based on orders from the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem. Kiosk owners were arrested and taken into the police station in Jerusalem old city where they were fined to varied amounts. Most owners could not pay the fines which might cause them to go to jail, the sources added.
In other news, after 12 days in detention, Ameer Makhoul, a Palestinian community leader from Haifa, is allowed to see his lawyers prior to a court hearing. The Israeli court in Petah Tikva lifted the order banning Makhoul lawyers from meeting him after his legal team threatened to boycott the court.
The court lifted the orders and re-Scheduled the hearing to 9:00 PM on Monday.
Makhoul was arrested by the Israeli public security service agents “Shin Bit along with Omar Saeed 12 days ago. Israel accuses them of espionage and contact with a foreign hostile agent namely Hezbollah. Saeed, said his appeal to not extend the arrest until Thursday was denied by the court.
Saeed, a member of the Abnaa Al Balad Movement, who emphasizes the Palestinian identity the Palestinians in Israel, and Makhoul, a political activist and the Director General of Ittijah – The Union of Arab Community-Based Associations and Chairman of the Public Committee for the Protection of Political Freedoms in the framework of the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel.
Family members, supporters, and lawyers protested outside the court of Petah Tikva from early Monday morning and demanded their immediate release. Arab groups and Israel Human Rights advocates say the arrest of the two is politically motivated aimed against Palestinian community leaders.
Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem, you have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center www.imemc.org, this report has been brought to you by Ghassan Bannoura.
