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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Monday, March 15th, 2010.
Dozens injured in protests in East Jerusalem and West Bank areas as Israel continue to close Jerusalem for the Palestinians. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
The News Cast
Ten Palestinian university students were injured by Israeli troops fire on Monday during clashes at a military checkpoint near Ramallah city central West Bank.
Students from Birzeit University organized a protest at the nearby Atara military checkpoint. Students were protesting the Israeli lockdown of Jerusalem and the ongoing settlement construction in the city.
As soon as students reached at the checkpoint, Israeli troops showered them with tear gas and rubber-coated-steel bullets.
Ten students sustained light to moderate wounds after being hit with rubber-coated-steel bullets, medical sources reported. In East Jerusalem, clashes renewed between residents and Israeli police as the Israeli lockdown continued in the city and all the West Bank.
Over the week-end Israel announced a closure of the West Bank, while in Jerusalem Israeli police prevented Palestinian males under the age of 50 from entering the old city or pray in the Al Aqsa mosque.
Also near Ramallah Israeli troops announced the villages of Bil’in and N’ilin closed military zones every Friday for six months.
The order forbids Israelis and international supporters from getting inside the villages on Friday or they will face arrests and deportation.
The two villages are sites of weekly nonviolent anti-wall and settlement protests. These protests are often joined by International and Israeli activists, especially in the village of Bil’in who has been running these Friday Protests since 2005.
In other news, Sixteen Palestinian civilians were detained by Israeli troops on Monday during invasions targeting West Bank communities.
Fifteen of those detained were from the southern West Bank village of Sourif and one other civilian from a village near Ramallah. In the village of Sourif,
troops used sound bombs and police dogs to forces residents out of their homes then searched them, later troops kidnapped 15 men from the village and left, taking them to undisclosed locations, witnesses reported.
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 George Rishmawi.
