Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 3.66 MB|| Time 4m0s ||Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Monday May 5th, 2007.
In the West Bank the Israeli army injures two Palestinian children one of them critically, while in the Gaza strip civil unrest continues, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
The West Bank
Palestinian sources reported that a Palestinian boy sustained critical wounds after a group of Israeli soldiers manning Al Nashshash checkpoint located to the south of Bethlehem attacked him on Monday midday. 17-year-old Iyad Al Anati, from the village of Halhol, near Hebron, was crossing the checkpoint on his way home from Bethlehem, when soldiers stopped him and took his bag, cell phone and money. A number of soldiers then forced him down on the ground and started to beat him up, witnesses reported.
The witnesses added that soldiers kept the boy for two hours and refused to allow Palestinian medical teams to reach him. He was later given to a Palestinian ambulance that took him to a nearby hospital where his injures were described as critical.
Another Palestinian child was shot and injured as the Israeli army searched and attacked residents’ homes in the city of Hebron on Monday morning. Palestinian medical sources reported that Wurod Al Ajloni, 16 was shot in the lower part of her back as she was standing in front of her house located in the southern side of Hebron city. Witnesses reported that soldiers were firing live rounds at a group of local youth standing on the street. Israeli army sources stated that Israeli soldiers opened fire when the youth hurled stones at them.
Earlier on Monday morning Six Palestinian civilians were kidnapped by Israeli forces during an incursion into several parts of the West Bank. Army sources stated that during the invasion of Ramallah local youth threw stones at the Israeli troops and damaged several army vehicles.
Human rights organizations told IMEMC that heated protests broke out in Jalbo’e detention camp in northern Israel on Monday morning after Israeli troops manning the detention camp attacked detainees and visiting family members on Sunday. Special troops were called in and violently suppressed the demonstration using batons, tear gas, sound bombs and live rounds, attacking some prisoners while they were inside their rooms.
Jalbo’e detention camp holds 600 Palestinian prisoners. There are currently around 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention camps, the majority held without charge.
Gaza
A resident of Alburaj refugee camp in central Gaza Strip was wounded today by an unidentified object, thought to be unexploded Israeli ordnance. The emergency department at the Health Ministry identified the wounded man as Jamal Kamel, aged 30. He was first admitted at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza then transferred to Alshifa hospital in Gaza City due to his critical condition. Since June 2006 the Israeli army has attacked the area several times.
Palestinian security sources reported early on Monday that a car was blown up by unknown agents in the Gaza neighborhood of Zaytoun outside the house of its owner, local Fatah member, Ra’fat Alhajeen. Meanwhile, unknown masked men opened fire yesterday at a festival at a UN-operated elementary school in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing a bodyguard of a Fatah MP and injuring of six other residents. No-one claimed responsibility for the attack but a local Islamist group had issued warnings that the event should not be held.
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 Kate Orwell and Ghassan Bannoura.
