Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday January 10th, 2007 || Copy and paste the link to download MP3 File|| http://portland.indymedia.org/media/media/2007/01/351905.mp3
Israeli army invades several West Bank cities and abducts Palestinians while it tightens measures on checkpoints. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
The News Cast
The Israeli army abducted 22 Palestinian men from several West Bank cities and villages during invasions at dawn on Wednesday; Palestinian sources reported.
In Bethlehem, troops abducted E\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ze Al Deen Sudoki, 22, from Al Saff street in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Israeli troops and vehicles stormed the street surrounding Sudoki\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s home. Troops searched and ransacked the house before taking Sudoki to an unknown location.
Sudoki\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s family said the soldiers fired live rounds and sound bombs into their house and some nearby houses during the military attack.
Meanwhile another Israeli army force invaded the village of Nahalin southwest of Bethlehem, and abducted 14 Palestinian men during a house-to-house search in the village.
Eyewitnesses reported that army vehicle convoys stormed the village and surrounded it. Soldiers then searched and ransacked resident\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s homes. Eyewitnesses said troops forced the families out of the homes during the search, adding that soldiers assaulted some residents with their rifle butts.
Troops left the village several hours later, taking with them the 14 men to unknown military detention camps. Local sources reported that Mohamed Ghayad, the Mayor of Jenata village, and two of his brothers Ibrahim and Zuhier, were taken prisoner. Troops also took prisoner Ghassan Najajra, Saleh Najajra, and Khalil Shakarnah.
Unknown, masked men set the municipality building in Jenata village, south east of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, on fire, Wednesday at dawn.
Ibraheem Asakra, chair of the village council, told the Palestinian News Agency WAFA that the municipality was completely burned down. Asakra also stated that the people who committed this attack want to create chaos and a state of lawlessness.
On Wednesday at dawn, the Israeli army took prisoner another three Palestinian villagers from the village of Asira Al Shamaliah north of Nablus city in the northern part of the West Bank.
Ahmad Birawi, 20, Ala Jarar\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ah, 31, and Imad Yassin, 30, were kidnapped by the army during a search Israeli soldiers did of the village. Local sources stated that soldiers destroyed some of the families\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ belongings during the search.
Siliat Al Harthia village near Jenin city in the northern part of the West Bank was also attacked by Israeli troops on Wednesday at dawn. Soldiers entered the village from several directions, searched a number of homes, then abducted Khalid Jaradat, 29, and his brother Mohamed, 25. The two were taken to an unknown destination.
Israeli forces invaded the West Bank city of Jericho on Wednesday morning and abducted two Palestinian men.
Local sources reported that troops and army jeeps stormed and searched residents\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ houses in \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’Oqbat Jabir refugee camp in the southern side of Jericho. Soldiers left after several hours, taking with them Mohamed Mitiyer, 28, and Ibraheem Al Alam, 22, to an unknown military detention camp. Residents said that soldiers destroyed some the family\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s belongings in the searched houses.
The Israeli army claims that the two men are members of the Islamic Jihad. These claims were not confirmed by the residents of the Refugee camp.
Also on Wednesday the Israeli army tightened its military measures on two military checkpoints located around the northern West Bank city of Nablus and invaded Al Ein refugee camp in the city on Wednesday morning.
For the first time at Howara checkpoint, located on the southern entrance of Nablus, soldiers used x-ray machines to search Palestinian civilians leaving or entering the city. Troops also forced all men to left up their shirts in addition to their IDs. This toke much longer than normal, according to one of the residents passing through the checkpoint.
Palestinian residents of Nablus reported that due to these unjustified regulations by the army at Howara checkpoint scores of residents missed their jobs and schools for the day.
In addition, Israeli soldiers stationed at Al Bathan military checkpoint, located on the eastern entrance of Nablus, closed the checkpoint entirely and did not allow Palestinian workers and students to pass the checkpoint, causing students to miss school and workers to loose a day of work.
Al Bathan checkpoint is located between the city of Nablus and neighboring villages and towns. The closing of this checkpoint means separating Nablus totally from these villages, which many Palestinians come from to work and attend school in Nablus.
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 Jake Talhami and Ghassan Bannoura.
