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Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Tuesday January 23rd, 2007.
Three French security men were seized and released north of the West Bank, while a Palestinian resident of Khan Younis City, in the southern Gaza Strip, died on Tuesday of wounds he sustained last September. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
The West Bank Update
On Tuesday afternoon unknown Palestinian resistance fighters of Al-Aqsa Brigades released three French security men who were seized in the northern West Bank city of Nablus the same day, according to al-Aqsa Brigades' source.
The three aroused suspicion when weapons carried by the bodyguards initially suggested the men were undercover Israeli soldiers.
Israeli media sources reported that the three abducted were two security officials and one diplomat.
Witnesses said shots were fired in the air as the men, with their heads covered, were led away by gunmen through Nablus' Old City.
PLC member and Fatah leader in Nablus, Nasser Joma talked to IMEMC:
<Actuality>
"The Palestinian Resistance men thought that the French guards were undercover Israeli troops, and seized them. After a while it was discovered that they were French guards, and French consulate officials have just arrived to take them back. I saw them, they are fine."
Israeli undercover troops often enter the Palestinian cities and villages to assassinate and arrest resistance fighters and leaders. Joma blamed the security department at the French consulate for dispatching armed security men to a highly sensitive area, referring to Nablus.
Israeli troops also invaded the city of Hebron and the nearby village of Yatta on Tuesday morning, and took one resident prisoner from Hebron. He was identified as Fadi Al Jaa'bari, 29. Troops also installed roadblocks around Yatta village.
The Israeli Army, backed up by at least twenty armored vehicles, invaded the West Bank village of Al Aarqa west of Jenin on Tuesday at dawn, local sources reported. Troops broke into several homes and searched them thoroughly before detaining and interrogating occupants, the source added.Soldiers also confiscated the identification cards of Subhi Ibrahim Saleh and two of his sons, after breaking into their home and searching it.
The sources added that the Israeli soldiers abducted two residents of Al Aarqa, identifying them as Izz Al Din Jameel Saleh, 17, and Akram Ahmad Al Qaisi, 18. They were taken to an unknown location.
Gaza strip Update
A Palestinian resident of Khan Younis City, south of Gaza Strip, died on Tuesday of wounds he sustained last September, medical sources confirmed.Ziyad Abu Sa'ada, 23, of the Kheza'a village, to the east of Khan Younis, died early on Tuesday after having suffered with critical wounds he sustained during an Israeli army invasion into his village last September, the Alwafa local hospital in Gaza City announced.
The Israeli army launched a massive military attack on various parts of the Gaza Strip in June 2006, so far killing at least 500 Palestinians, wounding about 4000 others and causing large-scale destruction to main points of infrastructure such as homes, ministerial buildings, bridges, power plants and water networks.
Palestinian sources reported on Monday night that an explosion ripped through Al Arabiya Television office in Gaza City causing excessive damage. No injuries were reported.
The Al Aqsa brigades, the armed wing of Fateh, and the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas both denounced the attack. Meanwhile, Palestinian journalists in Gaza announced strike on Tuesday in protest against the attack.
Conclusion
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, brought to you by Polly Bangoriad and Ghassan Bannoura.
