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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Tuesday, December 22th 2010.
Today, Israeli forces detained a Palestinian young, Yasser Mahmoud Abdul-Rahim, from a refugee camp, east of Tulkarem, after entering in his house. Abdul-Rahim was released from prison on 28 September 2010, after serving a year in an administrative detention.
In other news, the Israeli Police reported that seven Israeli children, aged 14-17, and two settlers, aged 24 and 26, were arrested in Jerusalem for carrying out attacks against Arab youths. A Jewish teenage girl had the role of “seducing” young Arab men, to lead them to a place where they would be attacked by a group of extremist settlers. The young Arab men, who were the victims of these plots, were attacked using sticks, empty bottles, teargas, and other materials.
In the latest revelation provided by the website ‘Wikileaks’, a diplomatic exchange between then Israeli Director of Military Intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin, and US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones showed Israeli support for a Hamas-ruled Gaza. According to the website, Israel could then declare Gaza to be a ‘hostile entity.’
In Gaza, the Israeli Air Force carried out an air strike on Tuesday night, targeting an area in Rafah, southern part of the strip. Four Palestinians suffered mild injuries. The area was reportedly being used as a training base for the Al Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
In separate reports, the Head of the Palestinian negotiations team, Dr. Saeb Erekat, stated on Tuesday that Palestinian and American officials held a meeting in Ramallah, but added that this meeting does not mean the resumption of talks with Israel. Erekat and the member of Fatah Mohammad Eshtiyya met with U.S. Middle East Peace Envoy, George Mitchell and U.S. National Security official, Dan Shapiro.
Also on Tuesday, a French peace activist, Olivia Zamour, was detained at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, and was denied entry to the country among with dozen peace activists. They were supposed to take part in nonviolence activities in Palestine during Christmas.
In other news, PA cabinet announced on Tuesday that a new date will be established immediately for local elections in the West Bank, after the Supreme Court considered illegal the P.A.’s decision to postpone them. The municipal elections were set to be held in 17 June, but were postponed by the P.A. cabinet a month before.
That sums up our news for today, thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem, you have been listening to Palestine Today, from International Middle East Media Center. For more updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and Ane Irazabal.
