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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org for Tuesday August 9th, 2011.
Israel’s borders with Gaza and Lebanon heat up and an ambulance was delayed at an Israeli checkpoint. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
Recently, tension has been increasing on the Israel-Lebanon border. Monday, the Lebanese Army reported that Israeli soldiers advanced into Lebanese territory for a distance of 200 meters and remained there for 30 minutes before heading back to the Israeli side of the border. It said that approximately 12 Israeli soldiers crossed the border fence at 10:30 in the morning and advanced into Al Sammaqa area in southern Lebanon.
Moving to the border with Gaza, a 75 year old Palestinian woman was wounded in the Gaza Strip by Israeli soldiers on Tuesday. Reportedly, an Israeli tank crossed the border and the woman was injured in the ensuing firefight before the Israeli soldiers and tank withdrew.
In the West Bank, an ambulance carrying victims of a fatal car accident was significantly delayed by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint. The Palestinian ambulance was delayed at Zatara checkpoint, south of Nablus, on its way to the hospital. Eyewitnesses report that the soldiers delayed it for 30 minutes. There were no fatalities or complications as a result of the delay.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers opened a Nablus thoroughfare for the first time in 9 years according to Maan News Agency. When the road was closed in 2002, it forced villagers to take long detours, and prevented many of them from accessing all of their fields. Now with the road open, villagers in the north will have direct access to Nablus and to their fields.
And finally, a number of Israeli police officers have been charged with taking bribes to allow truckers to bring smuggled goods from the West Bank into Israel, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice.
According to the indictments, Israeli border police officers would charge bribes of between NIS 1,000 and NIS 2,000 (around $300 – $500 USD) to allow trucks from the West Bank to enter Israel without being examined. These incidents, according to the Israeli government, are on the rise.
That’s all for today, you have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center. For more updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you from Occupied Bethlehem by Husam Qassis and me Danny Johnes.
