Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Thursday January 11th, 2007|| Copy and paste the link to download MP3 File||
http://portland.indymedia.org/media/media/2007/01/351962.mp3The West Bank Update
Israeli military forces invaded several parts of the West Bank on Thursday at dawn and abducted 23 Palestinian men, Palestinian sources said.
Eight residents were abducted from the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, as Israeli army vehicles stormed the city, attacked and searched scores of residents\’ homes. The army left the city in the early hours of the morning taking the eight to an unknown location. Among those abducted were; Jihad Ishtawi, Islam Shalawit, Ahmad Qatawi and Mohamed Abu Qamar.
Hanni Bani O\’dah, 36, was also abducted on Thursday at dawn when Israeli troops invaded Tamoun, a village near the northern West Bank city of Tubas.
Eyewitnesses stated that more than 16 army jeeps entered Tamoun and surrounded the home of Bani O\’deh\’s family. Soldiers shot live rounds and sound bombs into the family\’s home before they broke in and searched it.
The Israeli army also invaded Aida refugee camp in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. Residents said that soldiers attacked and searched several homes in the early hours of Thursday morning, then left after taking Mohamed Abu Srour, 21, and Arafah Abu Srour, 19, as prisoners.
In addition, Israeli forces abducted at least 10 Palestinians including four children, during invasions of Hebron and some neighboring villages in the southern part of the West Bank on Thursday.
In addition to attacking and searching homes, they were also ransacked and belongings were destroyed, eyewitnesses and family members reported.
Local sources stated that the four were taken from Hebron, including Fathi Amro, 56, director general of the holy sites ministry office for the city. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers abducted four children from the village of Sa\’er, east of Hebron. They were identified as: Thafer Al Fruch, age12, Ayman Al Mutawar, also12, Firas Al Fruch, 13, and Bilal Al Mutawar, 14.
Mohamed Al Takhman, 35, was abducted by the Israeli troops that attacked his home in Al Thahria, a town south of Hebron. Israeli army forces invaded the downtown area of Jenin city in the northern West Bank on Thursday afternoon, abducting Khalid Al Hajj, a Hamas affiliated political figure, and Ghassan Al Zughbi.
Al Hajj had been released late August 2005 after spending 3 years in a detention camp in Israel. Soldiers invaded the city shortly after the undercover forces attacked the home of Al Hajj, then left, taking with them Al Hajj and Ghassan Al Zughbi, a resident of the area.
The Gaza strip
A group of Palestinian civilians managed to thwart an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Wednesday evening by gathering on the roof of the targeted home in a non-violent act of civil disobedience.
The Israeli tactic of using missile strikes against the homes of so-called \’wanted\’ Palestinians had been put on hold two months ago when Israeli and Palestinian factions in Gaza agreed to a ceasefire. But on Wednesday, Ibrahim Juma, a member of the political wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, received a phone call from Israeli authorities that his home was about to be bombed.
Instead of evacuating, however, Juma called his neighbors and friends who surrounded his home and stood on the roof to try to turn back the Israeli plane that was approaching to bomb the home. The group managed to stop the missile strike by their mass presence.
Non-violent civil disobedience of this type has been used several times in the past few months to stop Israeli missile strikes on Palestinian homes. Home demolitions by Israeli forces, both by missile strikes and armored bulldozers, have made over 27,000 Palestinians homeless over the past six years of Intifada. Such demolitions have been deemed illegal under international law.
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 Joyce, Jane Smith and Ghassan Bannoura.
