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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday, August 5th, 2015.
Israeli settlers step up attacks targeting West Bank communities and soldiers demolish Palestinian homes. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Israeli authorities, Wednesday, demolished seven Palestinian-owned agricultural structures in the village of al-Aqaba, northern Jordan Valley, in addition to serving Hebron area Palestinians demolition notices regarding 20 homes, according to local sources.
An Israeli army force broke into the village in the morning and demolished seven agricultural structures used as grain storage sheds and as animal shelters. Forces further uprooted an electricity pole in the village.
Meanwhile, in al-Arroub refugee camp, to the north of Hebron, Israeli bulldozers demolished a house under construction, citing unpermitted construction as a pretext. The army also notified Palestinians in the camp of their intentions to demolish 20 homes, under the same pretext.
Early Wednesday Israeli forces abducted ten Palestinians, including at least a minor, from West Bank districts. Invasions and homes searches were reported in Jenin, Nablus and Hebron cities. Local sources said that among those kidnapped today were a father and his son from Hebron city.
Also on Wednesday at dawn, Israeli Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian homes with stones located in the outskirts of Silat ad-Daher, some 20 kilometers to the south of Jenin in northern West Bank.
The settlers, who also chanted racist slogans against Arabs and Palestinians, provoked a scuffle with angry local Palestinians who forced them out of the area.
In related news, Israel used a controversial administrative detention without trial against an alleged Jewish extremist for the first time, following international outcry over the death of a Palestinian toddler in an arson attack.
The use of ‘administrative detention’, which has been applied to thousands of Palestinians, came as Israeli authorities arrested another suspected Jewish extremist and extended the detention of the leader of a radical religious group.
According to AFP, none of the three were accused of direct involvement in last week’s firebombing of a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank in which an 18-month-old toddler was killed.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 news round-up from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and Ghassan Bannoura.
