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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Thursday, October 14th 2010.
The Egyptian Authority decided to allow the Artery of Life 5 (Viva Palestina 5) solidarity convoy to enter the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies. The convoy will be leaving the Al Lathiqiyya Syrian port on Friday heading to the Al Arish Egyptian then overland to Gaza.Ten convoy participants will not be allowed into the country; six plan to join the solidarity convoy when it arrives in Egypt these storey and more are coming up stay tuned
Yasser Abed Rabbo, an official with the Palestine Liberation Organization, told reporters on Wednesday that in response to the Israeli demand that the Palestinians recognize it as a ‘Jewish state’, that Israel must present the map of the state that it wants the Palestinians to recognize, before asking this question.
Israel has never declared its borders and has continually expanded them by force into neighboring Palestinian Territories.
Backed by the US, the demand that the Palestinians ‘recognize Israel as a Jewish state’ denies Palestinian refugees the right to return to homes in what is now Israel. The Palestinian Liberation Organization has recognized the state of Israel since the 1993 Oslo Accords: no reciprocal recognition of a state for Palestinians was ever recognized by Israel. Abed Rabbo said that Ha’aretz had misconstrued his quote saying the PLO would recognize the Jewish state if Israel were to declare the 1967 borders.
The Israeli army invaded, on Thursday morning, a house in Dheisheh Refugee Camp south of Bethlehem and made a thorough inspection of the house.
Security sources reported to a WAFA correspondent that four Israeli military patrol forces enterred the Dheisheh Camp and invaded the house of Mohammad Shamrokh. The soldiers thoroughly searched the house under the pretext of looking for Omar Sharmokh, who is ‘wanted.’ However, the soldiers withdrew from the camp and no arrests were reported.
Israeli soldiers invaded several communities in the areas of west and south Jenin. At least one farmer was abducted while working his land. Sources added that a large number of Israeli army personnel invaded several towns and villages, bringing tanks, and firing rubber coated steel bullets and stun grenades
About 400 detainees in various Israeli jails are threatening a hunger strike to last till death. The action is to protest the Israeli policy of solitary confinement and other harsh punishments inflicted on both male and female detainees, many of whom suffer serious health conditions. The threat follows failed efforts to stop the harsh practices.
In response to the PLO request to see a map of Israel’s borders.The U.S. State Department said it was legitimate to define borders.
The PLO rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer that Israel would stop building settlements in exchange for the Palestinian Authority’s recognition of Israel as a Jewish state saying it threatens the civil rights of Palestinians and forfeits the refugee’s right to return.
In the northern part of occupied West Bank, settlers have developed a new strategy for stealing the Palestinian olive harvest: they work at night when neither the farmers nor the Israeli army is present in the olive orchards. They also take advantage of days when farmers do not have Israeli military permission to harvest their own trees in order to steal the olives. The Israeli Civil Administration says that it instructs the army not to stand by while settlers attack the farmers and steal the harvest, and to stop settlers from fleeing the scene. But there are no consequences for the settlers who are caught.
In the West Bank, near the northwestern city of Qalqilia, the Israeli army disrupted the olive harvest by detaining a number of journalists who were participating as volunteers along with many others organized by the Palestinian Ministry of Information. The army threatened to shoot the volunteers if they did not leave the area.
On Wednesday Israeli settlers started expanding the settlement of Elkana which abuts the village of Mas’ha and is taking 100 dunams of the village’s land.
Organizers noted that an Israeli military order has been issued to take over 11 dunams of Kafir Kadom lands where the volunteers were working, in order to build a new ‘security road’ near the village.
Israeli settlers attempted to abduct a three year old child from his home in Hebron on Wednesday night. When his mother and a neighbor prevented the abduction, they were badly beaten and then detained.
On Thursday, a Palestinian youth was shot in the leg by Israeli soldiers as he was collecting ballasts in northern Gaza Strip.
In today’s Haaretz, the Israeli daily reported that a spokesperson for the government, Mark Regev, opened the question of Israel’s presence in the Jordan Valley, one of the issues to be resolved in peace negotiations. He said its presence can be reviewed, but initially it will have to be included in any peace agreement. Palestinians will not accept any Israeli military deployment in a future Palestinian state.
This concludes our news for today. Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. You have been listening to Palestine Today, from the International Middle East Media Center. For more updates, please visit our Website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by Hussam Qassis and Doris Norrito.
