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 Wednesday March 19th, 2008.
Unknown gunmen kill a Palestinian man in Gaza, while Israeli military bulldozers demolish homes in the southern West Bank. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
The News Cast
A Palestinian man from the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis has been reportedly shot dead on Wednesday by unknown assailants, medical sources revealed. The medics added that the victim had received a bullet to the head, leading to his instant death.
Salama Al-Agha, in his thirties, was killed for reasons relating to past family feuds between his family and another local family, local sources alleged.
Immediately following the incident, a large number of the Al-Agha family attacked and set fire to the home of a second family, thought to be involved in the shooting. Palestinian police forces of the Hamas-dominated region have been deployed on the scene to prevent any further deterioration.
On Tuesday night, twelve residents were wounded, four seriously, when the Israeli air force fired missiles at armed Palestinians who had gathered near a local mosque in the northern Gaza Strip. The Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, stated that four of its members were among the wounded.
The Israeli army confirmed the attack and claimed that the fighters were involved in shooting homemade shells into adjacent Israeli areas.
In the West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli troops using military bulldozers stormed Um-Nizel and Biret villages, located to the south of Hebron city in the southern West Bank. The troops demolished four homes.
Witnessing these events were members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), international peace activists, who reported that three homes were demolished in Um-Nizel, and one house was demolished in the village of Biret.
The citizens of both villages are mostly farmers and shepherds who have lived there for centuries. The Israeli state authorized construction of three settlement blocks in late 1980s. The settlers have been attacking the villagers regularly, often assisted by Israeli soldiers, ever since.
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 has been brought to you by Ghassan Bannoura and George Rishmawi.
