Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org
,for Thursday, March 31, 2016.
Israeli cuts of power from Jericho and villagers mark land day in Jenin by planting olive trees. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Palestinian villagers and activists planted on Thursday morning olive trees at the village of Sanour near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, in commemoration of Land Day.
The planted olive trees also had the names of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in the latest wave of clashes which started in November of last year.
Palestinians mark land day every March 30 since 1976, as form of protest to Israeli illegal taking over of Palestinian lands. On Wednesday scores of youth were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation fired by Israeli troops at protesters all over the West Bank.
Also on Thursday, the Israeli electricity company cut of supply to the West Bank city of Jericho rending the city out of power for most of the day.
The Israeli company says the moves comes to purser its Palestinian counterpart of pay overdue bills which amounts to 450 million US dollars.
West Bank districts takes about 88% of its electricity from the Israeli company. Most residents use the prepaid system to cover their bills but the deteriorating economic situation due to the Israeli occupation makes it difficult to cover such bills.
Moreover Israel withholds taxes reviews it collects on behalf of Palestinians at the borders rendering the government unable to cover its dues such as the electricity bill.
The Israeli company says if no payments are made soon more Palestinian districts in the West Bank will start having electricity cuts.
In other news, Israeli troops kidnapped on Thursday at least 22 Palestinians during predawn invasions and homes searches targeting a number of West Ban communities on Thursday.
Palestinian sources reported kidnaping and home searches in the southern West Bank districts of Hebron and Bethlehem in addition to Jenin and Tulkarem in the north and the central West Bank district of Ramallah.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Thursday, March 31, 2016, news round-up from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. From more news and updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org Today’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and me Ghassan Bannoura.
