Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3.66 MB || Time 4m 0sWelcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Monday March 12th, 2007.
Three children are injured by Israeli army gunfire near Hebron city in the West Bank, while in the Gaza strip civil unrest continues. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
The West Bank Update
Israeli forces invaded a Palestinian elementary school in the village of Ithnah, west of Hebron in the southern West Bank on Monday midday. Soldiers shot sound and tear gas bombs at the children, clashes erupted when children tried to apprehend the heavily armored soldiers by throwing small stones.
During the clashes three students were injured when soldiers chased a group of small school girls and attacked them with batons, among those injured was 8 year old Worod Al Timizi, medical sources reported. The medical sources added that the Palestinian medical teams treated scores of gas inhalation cases. Local sources reported that one small boy was abducted by the Israeli soldiers during the clashes but did not report his name.
On Monday morning the Israeli army invaded several parts of Hebron city and nearby villages. Troops searched and ransacked residents’ houses then abducted Mohamed Amro, aged 23, and Mohamed Kamil, 45, from the village of Al Thahria. Halhol and Yatta villages near the city were also attacked on Monday morning, soldiers searched homes then left, no abductions were reported.
In the northern part of the West Bank Israeli forces invaded several areas in the Jenin district and abducted at least 21 Palestinian civilians.
20 civilians were abducted from the village of Al Zababdah, south of Jenin city. Local sources reported that an Israeli army force invaded the village at around 2 am on Monday morning and conducted a wide-scale search campaign in the village.
Soldiers fired live rounds and sound bombs during the invasion, no injuries were reported. The sources added that Israeli troops targeted mostly students of the Arab American University, which is located near the village.
Since the university is near the village, the majority of the students rent rooms in the village. Among those abducted were Bilal Mara’ba, 22, from Qalqilia, Ahmad Al Hag, 22, from Nablus, Mohamed Taha, 22 from Jenin, Mohamed Amro, 20 from Jenin, Mahmod Qandagi, 24, from Tulkarem, and Zuhier Ya’kup, 23 from Qalqilia.
In the meantime, another Israeli force invaded the city of Jenin and searched a number of residents’ houses located in the city center, and then took prisoner Rabi Nassar, aged 25.
The Gaza Update
Palestinian security sources reported Monday that members of the Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, jointly with other members of the executive force, abducted Jamil Alzenati, an officer of the Palestinian national security forces and Ahmad Rezeq, a soldier of the same forces. The sources said that the abduction took place near the post of the first battalion of the national security forces in the northern Gaza Strip, and that the abducted men were taken to an unknown destination.
Early on Monday, unknown gunmen shelled the house of a Fatah leader in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun. Palestinian security sources confirmed that mortar shells have been fired at the house, while no causalities are reported. The joint Hamas-Fatah follow up committee will be convened today in a bid to contain the escalation of infighting over the past 28 hours.
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 Polly Bangoriad and Ghassan Bannoura.
