Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 0s || 2.75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Monday January 21st, 2008.
The Israeli army kills one Palestinian man in the West Bank and steps up the Siege on Gaza, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.
The News Cast
Thousands of Palestinians, including children, public figures and medical workers, took out to the streets of Gaza city on Monday, in protest of the crippling siege, Gaza Strip has been going through since June 2007, especially with the recently tightened sieges. Marchers, headed by the National Committee for Breaking the Siege, walked down in Gaza streets, as loudspeakers chanted ‘ no for the repressive siege’.
Dozens of children carried posters in English and Arabic, condemning the Israel-imposed closure on Gaza, and appealing for international intervention to stop the Israeli army actions against the 1.5-million-strong population.
On Sunday, due to lack of fuel supplies from Israel, the Gaza power plant stopped operations. Sunday night, Israeli security officials admitted that the impacts of Israel’s complete cut-off of the Gaza Strip were worse than they expected when they put the plan in place. The 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are once again in a total blackout, an event that has become commonplace since Israel’s bombing of the Gaza power plant in 2006.
Also on Sunday in Gaza Israeli aircrafts shelled a Palestinian home located in northern Gaza. The attack left one Palestinian killed two injured including one critically injured.
Meanwhile in the West Bank today, a young Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire in a neighborhood in eastern Tulkarem city Monday morning, when Israeli forces invaded the neighborhood and besieged his home. Medical sources reported that the man killed Monday morning was identified as Murad al Basha, 23. The sources added that Al Basha died immediately after being shot by Israeli troops with several rounds in different parts of his body. Local sources added that troops kidnapped several civilians.
Meanwhile Israeli forces kidnapped, Mohammad Abu Alia, the Governor’s consultant of religious affairs, and a senior leader of Fatah in Al Duhiesheh refugee camp in the southern West bank city of Bethlehem. Palestinian sources reported that at least ten military vehicles invaded Bethlehem district and drove to the camp where they invaded the house of the consultant, kidnapped him and later moved him to unknown detention center.
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. This report brought to you by Sophie Frazier and Ghassan Bannoura.
